0 an animal that looks like a large mouse and lives in cold northern areas. Lemmings migrate (= move from one place to another) in large groups and are often, but wrongly, thought to jump off cliffs together.
Many do so successfully, along ancient trails, a knowledge of which is found only in the instinctive mind level of the lemmings themselves.
Do we have here a key to understanding how lemmings, eels and other creatures gained their instinctive knowledge of the changing planetary geography?
Data on the abundance of lemmings and foxes between years are employed to examine predator-prey dynamics.
Maybe, like the lemmings, the pattern dates back to an era when their goal was closer and the swim was not so long.
The tundra is widely grazed by mammals, especially voles and lemmings that burrow in the undergrowth.
Voles, mice and lemmings are active under the snow in winter, hunted by predatory weasels, stoats, foxes and wolves.
In both years, nest success was low, predation was high, and lemmings were scarce.
Like lemmings, we raced each other to leap over the cliff.