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The Norway lemming (also Norwegian lemming), Lemmus lemmus, is a common species of lemming found in northern Scandinavia and adjacent areas of Russia. It is the only vertebrate species endemic to the region. The Norway lemming dwells in tundra and fells, and prefers to live near water. Adults feed primarily on grasses and moss. They are active at both day and night, alternating naps with periods of activity. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1622x1004, 443 KB) Original caption: Berglemming, Lemmus lemmus L. 1/2 natürlicher Größe. ...
Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ...
Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria Placozoa Subregnum Bilateria Acoelomorpha Orthonectida Rhombozoa Myxozoa Superphylum Deuterostomia Chordata (vertebrates, etc. ...
Typical Classes Subphylum Urochordata - Tunicates Ascideiacea Thaliacea Larvacea Subphylum Cephalochordata - Lancelets Subphylum Myxini - Hagfishes Subphylum Vertebrata - Vertebrates Petromyzontida - Lampreys Placodermi (extinct) Chondrichthyes - Cartilaginous fishes Acanthodii (extinct) Actinopterygii - Ray-finned fishes Actinistia - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Amphibia - Amphibians Reptilia - Reptiles Aves - Birds Mammalia - Mammals Chordates (phylum Chordata) include the vertebrates, together with...
Orders Subclass Monotremata Monotremata Subclass Marsupialia Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Microbiotheria Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Notoryctemorphia Diprotodontia Subclass Placentalia Xenarthra Dermoptera Desmostylia Scandentia Primates Rodentia Lagomorpha Insectivora Chiroptera Pholidota Carnivora Perissodactyla Artiodactyla Cetacea Afrosoricida Macroscelidea Tubulidentata Hyracoidea Proboscidea Sirenia The mammals are the class of vertebrate animals characterized by the presence of mammary glands...
Families Many, see text The order Rodentia is the most numerous of all the branches on the mammal family tree. ...
Families see text Muroidea is a large superfamily of rodents. ...
Subfamilies see text Cricetidae is a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. ...
Genera see text Arvicolinae is a subfamily of rodents that includes the voles, lemmings, and muskrats. ...
In biology, binomial nomenclature is a standard convention used for naming species. ...
A painting of Carolus Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné ( listen?), and who wrote under the Latinized name Carolus Linnaeus (May 23, 1707 – January 10, 1778), was a Swedish botanist who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of taxonomy. ...
Genera Dicrostonyx Lemmus Synaptomys Myopus * Incomplete listing: see vole Lemmings are small rodents, usually found in or near the Arctic. ...
Scandinavia, Fennoscandia, and the Kola Peninsula. ...
This article is about the ecological meaning of endemic. See also endemic (epidemiology). ...
In physical geography, tundra is an area where tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. ...
In geography a fell is a treeless mountain landscape that has been shaped by glacier ice earlier in history. ...
The Norway lemming has a dramatic 3-4 year population cycle, in which the species' population periodically rises to unsustainable levels, leading to high mortality, which causes the population to crash again. This abrupt fluctuation, also found in related species, has given rise to the myth of lemming mass suicide. The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David, 1787 Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of willfully ending ones own life; it is sometimes a noun for one who has committed or attempted the act. ...
In typical years, the Norway Lemming (which is the one that is said to be the suicidal species) spends the winter in nests under the snow. When the spring thaws begin and the snow starts to collapse, Norway Lemmings must migrate to higher ground where the snow is still firm enough for safety, or, more commonly, to lower ground, where they spend the summer months. In autumn, they must time their movement back to sheltered higher ground carefully, leaving after there is alpine snow cover for them to burrow and nest in, and before the lowlands are made uninhabitable by frost and ice.
When the seasons are particularly good—short winters without unexpected thaws or freezes, and long summers—the Norway Lemming population can increase explosively: they reach sexual maturity less than a month after birth, and breed year-round if conditions are right, producing a litter of 6 to 8 young every 3 to 4 weeks. Being solitary creatures by nature, the stronger lemmings drive the weaker and younger ones off long before a food shortage occurs. The young lemmings disperse in random directions looking for vacant territory. Where geographical features constrain their movements and channel them into a relatively narrow corridor, large numbers can build up leading to social friction, distress, and eventually a mass panic can follow, where they flee in all directions. Lemmings do migrate, and in vast numbers sometimes, but the deliberate march into the sea happens only in the fantasies of film makers.
According to genetic research undertaken by Fedorov and Stenseth (2001), the Norwegian lemming survived the Pleistocene glaciation in western Europe, inhabiting various refugia which were not covered by ice. Alternatively, some researchers have contended that the Norwegian lemming populations had arisen from ancestors of the present-day Siberian lemming (Lemmus sibiricus), moving in after glaciers receded. The Pleistocene Epoch is part of the geologic timescale, usually dated as 1. ...
References Fedorov, V.B. & Stenseth, N.C. (2001). Glacial survival of the Norwegian lemming (Lemmus lemmus) in Scandinavia: inference from mitochondrial DNA variation. Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, 268(1469), 809 - 814. [1]
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