Talk:Lemming

Vandalism

Looks like the page has been vandalized. Someone who knows how to revert should probably do so.

reverted Jon513 22:44, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Picture please

A picture of a lemming would be excellent for this page. (Taken care of) Redwolf24

The title above the picture says "Lemmings", but the picture is of a single lemming...

Disney movie

I think the large section about that Disney movie has nothing to do in an article on the lemming. I would remove this section to to a new article under the film title, and just refer to this article concerning the lemming suicide myth. -- Peter Kristoffersen

Since there's already an article on White Wilderness, this makes sense to me. Done. --Paul A 06:32, 4 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I think the section should stay here. I was just trying to prove the point to coworkers, that the myth about lemmings jumping of cliffs is just that -- a myth. The article on lemmings was therefore ideal place to seek the information about this particular myth. And so I've found it here, together with its source. User:rrw

Changing 'American Slang' to 'Slang', since it is not just American, as evidenced by 'Alexander Lemming' in the long-running 'Calamity James' strip in The Beano. Also, it absolutely has it's place in an article on Lemmings, since it is what most people think of when they hear 'lemming'.

Anyone else think that it should be expressly stated that Lemmings don't become suicidal, rather than suggested by the text? It's a simple fact that it isn't true.. Lemmings simply migrate when there is a population boom, and most of their deaths are simply a result of accidents in moving to unfamiliar territory.--Vercalos 00:19, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

So while suicidal might not be exactly correct, seemingly suicidal behavior and usually-fatal migration are accurate. I'd jump off a cliff too if I had a very thick crowd of charging humans behind me. The alternative is to get trampled to death. 24.170.177.163 08:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

So, does no one else believe that, at best, the first paragraph in Population Fluctuations (as of June 01, 2006) is more suitable under Popular Culture? Byakuren 21:00, 1 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The paragraph that says that its is a myth that Lemmings kill themselves is contradicted by the next paragraph that says that Lemmings fail to avoid obvious dangers. Most of this talk page talks about the "myth" of Lemming suicide, yet the page itself says that Lemmings fall off cliffs or drown themselves. Nobody (I hope) is stupid enough to think that Lemmings do it because they want to, but they obviously do die when they could have avoided the danger easily. I think that the Myth that Lemming Suicide is a Myth needs to be purged from this article. (but I'm not enough of a punk to just do it) John

Just seen QI on BBC 4 (next week's edition) and one of their "Wrong answers" was that Disney invented the lemming uicide myth. Apparently it's been found as far back as a 1908 encyclopaedia, I didn't catch the name. I've added this but have left the Disney reference as I'm guessing that's what really popularised it. Also random blog post on it, linking to an article? Rawling 22:07, 27 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

evidence that lemmings do indeed have group suicide reactions in migration

I dunno what the policy is on posting links to other sites in discussion, but here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWuiGWkd7mM

It's a documentary video that shows and explains how lemmings drown in massive numbers because of a sort of group-think impulse to swim across barriers of migration. They swim in the oceans together until they are exhausted and drown. Xyad 23:01, 22 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Isn't this the video that started the rumour? Don't beleive false sources. I watched on TV that you were wrong. On ANIMAL PLANET. Kimera Kat 00:54, 15 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

20 grams?!

How can they weigh 20 grams? 1) they have to weigh much more than 2 grams per centimeter 2) look how fat it is!! Redwolf24 00:35, 13 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I imagine much of their size is purely made up of fur, stick your finger in a gerbil (that is, it's fur, not an of it's orifices).. there is quite alot of a way to go before you actually hit it's body.

I believe that is quite common for rodents, actually, I heard that a chinchilla could get through much narrower pipes than would be expected, looking at its size.

The myth that Lemmings commit suicide was not created by Disney in it's film released in 1958 as Arthur C Clark wrote a short story regarding this myth published in March 1953 in Dynamic Science Fiction.

Predates that, too. (Good story, though). Disney was much more effective at popularising the already-existing myth widely than Clarke was, though... Shimgray | talk | 18:54, 17 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Article is Equivocal

Either

"The actual reason for their 'suicide' deaths is because lemmings have notoriously poor eyesight and cannot distinguish a small river, which they can easily cross, from a fjord, in which they will almost surely drown."

or

"In fact, the behavior of lemmings is much the same as that of many other rodents which have periodic population booms and then disperse in all directions, seeking the food and shelter that their natural habitat cannot provide. (The Australian Long-haired Rat is one example.)"

This article does a really bad job of making it clear whether lemmings do or do not die in unusually enormous quantities.

The references are for the most part sub-academic, and most appear to have, like the article itself, a fixation on White Wilderness.

So, 3 Questions: Do lemmings die in large quantities? Is that behavior unusual for rodents? Where is your source attributing this to poor eyesight?

I agree, I came to read about their mass suicide being a rumor and this page barely addresses what actually happens. Also, the whole thing about the Walt Disney movie seems extremely out of place. Futhermore the last paragraph of the Population Fluctuations section says that the are "one of the only" should it say "some of the only"? --Nick 16:15, 21 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism 2

Someone vandalized this page, I took off the vandal's message, but the text is still cut. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 201.6.85.240 (talk • contribs) .

Thanks for letting us know. It was hard to track down the source of the vandalism. Powers 14:40, 5 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

(Vandalism) Uh, That Was Me

Sorry, I just REALLY hate lemmings.And the fact that I'm a teenager may have something to do with it...Hm. Anyway I won't do it again. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.160.77.213 (talk • contribs) .

Do ye mean the dots? Frodo 11011 10:22, 14 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Search

When I searched for "lemmings" or "lemming" it took me to the video game, this should be fixed —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.186.45.133 (talk • contribs) .

Searching for "Lemming" brings you here. "Lemmings" takes you to the video game. Both articles have links to the other. That's about the best we can do. Powers ^T 20:26, 3 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

code problems

the side box with info seems to overlap with the first section, is there anyone who knows wikicode well enough to fix it? --voodoom 04:18, 15 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Done, although I'm not really happy with the position of the Wiktionary box. Powers ^T 15:09, 16 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

so /do/ they jump off cliffs?

Yes or no (and by the way this is the number 1 reason anyone would visit this page.) there are 3-4 references to this "reputation" they have, from popular literature -- so is it a well-founded reputation???

No. The article say quite clearly (in the Population fluctuations section) that lemming suicide behaviour is a myth, propogated by the Disney film White Wilderness. It also gives a link to this page which debunks the myth. Gandalf61 11:22, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It probably needs looking into further. On QI, Stephen Fry said that while Disney may have contributed to the myth, they were not the ones to start it. It's probably a good idea to find out who did. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:44, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This article by George Wald (supposedly about death, though a lot of it is about hunger in animals and their response to it) seems to support the theory. If there is a cliff in the way, they probably jump off it. I'm not too familiar with the science behind animals swimming off into the ocean to die, but it clearly happens - how else do stoats find their way onto islands? I imagine they get hungry, run in any particular direct looking for food, and if they come across a sea in their path they try to swim across it. Richard001 08:05, 14 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There may be more to this than just the "cliff jumping". Reading the George Wald article makes me question if all lemmings migrate or just certain ones. I've lived in the arctic for over 30 years and I've never seen a mass migration of lemmings. However, it may be that the lemmings on Victoria Island are the only ones that don't migrate but I've not heard anyone else from other communities discuss the migration habits. I think that while I've seen hundreds of lemmings over the years I have never seen more than 2 or 3 at once. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 00:53, 15 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

South Park reference

I removed the following from the "in popular culture" section:

Lemmings are also mentioned on South Park---(LemmingWinks)

First, it's not clear if the author was signing his handle, "LemmingWinks", or if he was mistakenly referring to South Park's gerbil king Lemmiwinks (who isn't a lemming). Either way, it's wrong, and I don't think "mentioned on South Park" is noteworthy. If there's a specific episode(s) that substantially involve lemmings, that would be. --63.25.255.202 03:47, 20 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like vandalism did not go away

The first line of this page looks like this to me

Lemmings are small fishs, usually found in or near the puddles of water from rain. Together with the birds and pigss, they make up the subfamily dewsh (also known as Microtinae), which forms part of the largest mammal radiation by far, the superfamily Muroidea, which also includes the rats, mice, hamsters, and gerbils.

On the edit page, this paragraph seems to be proper. Can anyone correct it?

65.68.0.170 07:05, 23 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Try clearing your cache. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 09:09, 23 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Factual accuracy disputed

I've added a {{disputed}} template to this page as I feel that some of the uncited statements in it are somewhat unbelievable. If anyone can verify these statements and provide citations to prove that they are true, then please do so. In particular, I'm referring to this claim in the article:

"there was much speculation in learned circles that lemmings were in fact spontaneously generated by conditions of the air."

—gorgan_almighty 13:39, 13 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]