Do Lemmings Commit Suicide...
Lemmings do not commit suicide. However, this particular myth is based on some actual lemming behaviors. Lemmings have large population booms every three or four years. When the concentration of lemmings becomes too high in one area, a large group will set out in search of a new home. Lemmings can swim, so if they reach a water obstacle, such as a river or lake, they may try to cross it. Inevitably, a few individuals drown. But it’s hardly suicide.
But the biggest reason the myth endures? Deliberate fraud. For the 1958 Disney nature film "White Wilderness", filmmakers eager for dramatic footage staged a lemming death plunge, pushing dozens of lemmings off a cliff while cameras were rolling. The images—shocking at the time for what they seemed to show about the cruelty of nature and shocking now for what they actually show about the cruelty of humans—convinced several generations of moviegoers that these little rodents do, in fact, possess a bizarre instinct to destroy themselves.
But the biggest reason the myth endures? Deliberate fraud. For the 1958 Disney nature film "White Wilderness", filmmakers eager for dramatic footage staged a lemming death plunge, pushing dozens of lemmings off a cliff while cameras were rolling. The images—shocking at the time for what they seemed to show about the cruelty of nature and shocking now for what they actually show about the cruelty of humans—convinced several generations of moviegoers that these little rodents do, in fact, possess a bizarre instinct to destroy themselves.
I'll be damned. What a rotten thing to do.
ReplyDeleteSicko, we can learn so much through you, and all the while have a hard-one.
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DeleteInteresting. I never thought they committed suicide... I just got the impression that they would follow a leader anywhere.
ReplyDeleteHumans are the scourge of the earth; cruel and selfish.
Pat - Ya got that right!
ReplyDeleteYet another reason I hate Disney.
ReplyDeleteI find it is best to leave nature alone ! :)
ReplyDeleteMany film documentaries of the past use to 'embellish and enhance' their story lines, Disney was not the first, there were many others. :(
Walt certainly had an ambivalent relationship with rodents, huh?
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