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Do lemmings actually commit suicide by jumping off of cliffs? - Printable Version

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Do lemmings actually commit suicide by jumping off of cliffs? - C C - Nov 20, 2023

https://www.livescience.com/animals/land-mammals/do-lemmings-actually-jump-off-of-cliffs

EXCERPT: . . . The truth is that lemmings don't intentionally jump to their deaths, scientists told Live Science.

"They don't do anything like that," Andy Baltensperger, a landscape ecologist at the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, told Live Science. "It's just not how biology works."

In fact, Disney faked the whole scene, according to a 2003 article published by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. A 1983 investigation by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation found that Disney filmmakers actually threw or pushed the lemmings off the cliff, using editing and tight camera angles to suggest that the lemmings were purposefully ending their lives. Disney did not respond to a Live Science request for comment by the publication of this article.

Although the myth was completely manufactured, a few known lemming features might have inspired the scene and perpetuated the myth... (MORE - missing details)

The scene in Disney's 1958 wildlife documentary .... https://youtu.be/YNZ_K14iT-Q

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/YNZ_K14iT-Q

Do Lemmings Really Commit Suicide? .... https://youtu.be/yNtpWSRF6o8

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/yNtpWSRF6o8


RE: Do lemmings actually commit suicide by jumping off of cliffs? - Magical Realist - Nov 21, 2023

I think I saw that Disney film in my 7th grade science class. Disgusting that they were actually throwing them off the cliff...