Lemmings Myth Akilter

Friends, lend me your ears. You enemies, too, listen up. Lemmings do not follow other lemmings over a cliff. They do move quickly, and they move as a herd, a flock. At times the flock veers near a cliff adjacent to a coastline, and members on the side of the flock go over the edge.

Prey animals move in herds to increase the safety of the individuals. Even in the worst position, on the side or in the back, they still have areas blocked from possible predators by other members of the herd. The herd loses very few to falling off a cliff falls, very occasionally, but it doesn't hurt the overall health of the population. For lemmings to have sufficient numbers to herd, they must be in a boom cycle.

Arctic animals work in boom and bust cycles. Good year? There are lots of lemmings, and as a result owls and hawks and foxes have bigger nests or litters. How the predator parents anticipate this is unknown. Humans do it, too. We just aren't aware of it. We fuck less and have fewer kids in hard times. Which, for males, means we have fewer hard times in hard times. Less up time. I could go on for hours.

Fewer lemmings, smaller number of offspring from the predators. This is repeatable throughout the Arctic, no matter if it is North of the Western Hemisphere or the Wrong Hemisphere.

Lemmings feed like American bison. They graze as a herd in one area until it is mowed, then move double quick to the next feeding ground, pursued frantically by the owls, foxes, hawks and other feeders.

So please, don't make me overhear another reference to lemmings, as if the whole herd runs straight off the edge of the cliff, following Glen Beck or Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Hairpie, whoever may be lead lemming at the time, the fat little follower lemmings with symbolic teabags hanging from their tri-corner hats as they waddle off the ledge in turn.