Myth

The Myth of the Lemming Leap

Many a word has been said and many a cartoon has been drawn about the suicide-happy lemmings.

The poor lemmings have been given a bad reputation; and the source was the most unlikely of culprits. It was the Walt Disney Studios.

Back in 1958, Walt Disney Studios created a documentary entitled White Wilderness where it showed the poor lemmings jumping over a cliff into the open waters of the sea.  It was further found that the filming of the documentary, many lemmings where unnecessarily put to their death.

Legend has it that every four years the lemming population would increase ten-folds. They then would have a eureka moment that they need to migrate to seek new territory, to boldly go where no lemmings have gone before. In their excitement and blind panic, they would end up bouncing over a cliff and straight to the hungry mouth of the waiting water below.

This legend is actually a myth. When the number of lemmings increases, the number of waiting predators also increases, thereby keeping the lemming population under control.