Habitat
Description
Distinguishing Features - Length: 13 - 15 cm; Tail: 2 cm; stout bodies, thick fluffy fur, small ears, very short tails, and long claws.
Habitat
Tundra, grassy land of northern Scandinavia and western Russia.
Diet
Diet consists mainly of grass, little shrubs and above all, moss; also avaiable insects in summer.
Notes
The noticable marked norway lemming is active during the day and at night; times of acitvity are alternating with small breaks. In the winter, it constructs tunnels under the snow, so that it can search for food on the ground. In spring, when the snow is still there, the mating season begins, and during the summer, the no less than 8 litters with 6 young each are reared.
Lemmings are known for their explosive population, which occurs every 3-4 years. If there's a mild spring after 1 or 2 years of low population density, lemmings usually reproduce very much in the same or in the following year. More and more animals go from the mountains to the valleys. Many lemmings are eaten by enemies and a larger number die when they try to cross various types of waterways.
About Lemmings in General
"Lemming" is a name for several species of mouselike rodents related to the voles. All live in arctic or northern regions, inhabiting tundra or open meadows. They frequently nest in underground burrows, particularly in winter, although they do not hibernate. All are approximately 13 cm long.
The brown to black Norway lemming, Lemmus lemmus, of Scandinavia, is the best known, because of its spectacular periodic swarming. Two or three times per decade, this species undergoes a population explosion of such proportions that the lemmings set out in all directions in search of food. They cross bodies of water by swimming and occasionally some reach and enter the ocean, where they drown. This behavior has given rise to folklore about lemmings committing mass suicide.
Other species of the genus Lemmus are found in the northern portions of Eurasia and North America and sometimes exhibit similar swarmings. The Snow or Collard lemmings, Dicrostonyx, found in the arctic regions of Asia and North America, are pure white in winter and brown, gray, or reddish in summer; this color change is unique among rodents. They are also distinguished by the growth in winter of an extremely long two-pronged claw on the third and fourth finger of each forefoot; these claws may function in shoveling snow.
Bog lemmings, members of the genus Synaptus, are found in marshy places in North America as far south as the northern U.S. states.
The Wood lemming, Myopus schisticolor, is found in northern Eurasia.
The Steppe lemmings, members of the genus Lagarus, of southern Russia and Mongolia, are properly classified as voles; the North American species of this genus, Lagarus curtatus, is found in the western United States and is known as the Sagebrush vole.
Lemmings are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Rodentia, family Cricetidae.
Gestation is about 23 days.
The Lemming Species
Hierarchy and Classification
Only the Latin and German names are available here.
Remark: a former classification for Family has been: Cricetidae [German: Wühler]
A list of Lemming Species
| Latin name | English (and other) name | Home |
| Dicrostonyx - collared lemmings Living in the tundra of North America and Asia. |
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| Dicrostonyx exsul | St. Lawrence Island collared lemming | St. Lawrence Island (Alaska) |
| D. groenlandicus (torquatus) | American arctic lemming also called: Northern collared lemming |
Greenland & Arctic Islands of N Canada |
| D. hudsonius | Labrador collared lemming | Labrador & N Quebec |
| D. nelsoni | Nelson's collared lemming | Alaska |
| D. richardsoni | Richardson's collared lemming | West of Hudson Bay in Canada |
| D. rubricatus | Bering collared lemming | N Alaska |
| D. stevensoni | Stevenson's collared lemming | Umnak Island in Alaska |
| D. torquatus | Siberian arctic lemming (Collared lemming) | Siberia |
| D. vinogradovi | Wrangel lemming | Wrangel Island & Siberia |
| Synaptomys - bog lemmings Living in North America. |
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| S. borealis | Northern bog lemming | Canada & Alaska |
| S. cooperi | Southern bog lemming | NE USA & SE Canada |
| Myopus Living in the taiga of Scandinavia and Siberia. |
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| M. schisticolor | Wood lemming German: Waldlemming |
taiga in Scandinavia & Siberia |
| Lemmus - brown lemmings Living in the tundra of Europe, North America and Asia. |
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| L. amurensis | Amur lemming | Verkhoyansk Mountains (Upper Amur) |
| L. chrysogaster (sibiricus) | NE Siberia | |
| L. lemmus | Norway lemming German: Berglemming French: Le Lemming des Toundras |
Scandinavia |
| L. nigripes | Black-footed lemming | Pribilof Islands |
| L. sibiricus (trimucronatus) | Siberian lemming (Brown Lemming) | N Siberia W to White Sea & N/W Canada & Alaska |
| Lemmiscus, Lagurus and Eolagurus - steppe lemmings Living in the steppes of Asia/North America. |
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| Lemmiscus curtatus | Sagebrush vole | montane steppe of W USA |
| Lagurus lagurus | Steppe lemming | Ukraine - Mongolia & Sinkiang |
| Eolagurus luteus | W Mongolia & N Sinkiang | |
| Eolagurus przewalskii (lutens) | N Tibet - S Mongolia | |
This description is still incomplete and will be updated in the future
German: Berglemming
French: Le Lemming des Toundras
Latin: Lemmus lemmus
This one is the most popular (at least in Europe) because its the one best studied for change in population count.
Their fur is coloured black, yellow and reddish brown on the back. They are living beyond the tree line in the mountains of northern scandinavia and nearby regions in NE Asia. In lemming years (years of high population) the density might become 100 to 250 per hectare. Their body is about 13 to 15 cm with an additional tail of about 1.5 to 2 cm. They are very agressive.
The reason for the cyclic change in population is still not completely understood. Anyway, the main cause for their mass migration is high density with decreasing/used up food supply. The cycle length lies between 3 and 5 years with an average of 3.8 years.
They change their location twice a year. In spring they start to migrate when the snow is melting. Autumn migration is driven by population density with high density leading to early movement. The Lemmings prefer nighttime for their migration.
In low density years the distance between their summer and winter biotopes lies within a magnitude of 10 - 100 m. They are staying in alpine regions then moving down in spring and up in autumn. In high density years their migration may take them to far away places and they use to move downwards in autumn too.
Their speed on land has been measured to be from about 3.6 km/h (autumn) to about 5 km/h (spring) moving 15 km per day. Water speed has been measured to be about 1 km/h crossing a 200 m wide lake.
Each lemming chooses its own direction and normally follows it alone and as close as possible. Groups of lemmings walk on the same path only when reaching hindrances. Their orientation seems to be mainly visual.
Lemmings, family Cricetidae, are rodents that are closely related to voles and meadow mice. The four genera are: Lemmus, true lemmings; Synaptomus, bog lemmings; Dicrostonyx, collared or Arctic lemmings; and Myopus, red-backed or wood lemmings. The animals live in open grasslands or tundras in north temperate or arctic regions. Lemmings measure 8-13 cm (3-5 in) in length and weigh only a small fraction of a kilogram. The fur is reddish or grayish brown above and lighter-colored below, and the tail is stubby. Collared lemmings turn white during winter, an adaptation to their snowy environment. The animals burrow to make underground nests, which they line with grass or moss. They eat grass, roots, sprouts, and other plant materials. The mating season lasts from spring to fall, and the female bears up to 9 young after a 20-day gestation period.
The legend that lemmings deliberately join in a death march to the sea, where they drown, is untrue. Lemmings migrate periodically from their home area when their population begins to exceed the food supply. They swim across streams and rivers in order to find land with food; sometimes, however, lemmings try to swim bodies of water that are too deep and may drown in great numbers.
The Norway lemming, Lemmus lemmus, of Scandinavia is best known for its mass migrational behavior.