LOOK. AT. HOW. CUTE.
Rats out.
Or in this case – rats in – because this specific kind of rodent is totally adorable and we wouldn’t mind a couple of them scurrying about the place at all times.
The rodent in question is called a lemming, and if you have yet to hear of one and their adorable, furry ways then buckle up because you are about to have your rodent-based mind blown.
And if you have heard of them and know exactly what their story is, stick around anyway, come along for the ride, you won’t regret it.
This is a lemming.
See? The cutest little lad.
Lemmings are small, lemmings are round, and lemmings are brown and black meaning that they’re kind of a cross between a guinea pig and a common rat but wild and adorable.
Unfortunately, lemmings aren’t just known for their incessant cuteness, they’re also known for the common misconception that they tend to die by mass suicide by jumping off cliffs when they migrate.
This is, thankfully, untrue and rather the lemming is killed as a result of migratory behaviour – not by choice.
Despite this, the rumour of the lemming’s deep-rooted desire to die has been misinforming the public for years via pop culture and documentary films.
As discussed here by Nate Hawk, one of the worst purveyors of this suicide misconception was Disney, whose 1958 film White Wilderness depicted dozens of lemmings seemingly throwing themselves into water from a cliff face.
It later transpired that the documentary crew – who won an Academy Award for their efforts – had transported the lemmings to the area and dumped them over the cliff from a truck themselves.
Some of the lemmings can be seen clearly trying to scramble back up the cliff.
Genuinely upsetting scenes, but you can watch it here if you’re at all interested:
“Here’s an actual living legend,” narrates the film, “for it’s said of this tiny animal that it commits mass suicide by rushing into the sea in droves.”
“The story is one of the persistent tales of the arctic. And, as often happens in man’s nature lore, it’s a story both true and false as we shall see in a moment.”
Except it’s not nature. It’s fake. Because they faked it.
The fake lemming suicide was eventually outed in 1982 by Canadian Broadcasting Company series called Cruel Camera.
The lads wanted to shed some light on the cruel and inhumane ways animals were often used in films and documentaries – and they did.
They also found out that filmmakers didn’t have enough lemmings for the scene so they reused ones they had already pushed into the water to give the illusion of a mass suicide.
Lemmings, you deserve so much better than this.
