rowe@pender (Mickey Rowe) (02/02/90)
First, thanks to Krista for actually doing some research and not just posting opinions and half-remembered fragments of information (like I usually do :) There was something that she said, however, that I was under the impression was not considered true any more. In article <12994@cbnewsd.ATT.COM> kja@cbnewsd.ATT.COM (krista.j.anderson) writes: >There are certain mechanisms I've heard of that take effect under >crowded conditions. Lemmings go nuts and run into the sea in >their panic. >-- >Krista A. >HONOR Our Neighbors' Original Rights! Although it is true that lemmings perform strange mass migrations, I thought the mass suicide idea had been abandoned. I remember hearing a rumor once that some people making a documentary meant to show this occurrence got tired of waiting for it to happen, and filmed a bunch of lemmings jumping off of a cliff (but not showing the people herding them over the edge :(. Do biologists still believe that there are naturally occurring conditions under which lemming will do this? Mickey Rowe (rowe@pender.ee.upenn.edu)
ccopjss@cc.brunel.ac.uk (John Smith) (02/08/90)
In article <19880@netnews.upenn.edu> rowe@pender (Mickey Rowe) writes: >Although it is true that lemmings perform strange mass migrations, I >thought the mass suicide idea had been abandoned. I remember hearing >a rumor once that some people making a documentary meant to show this >occurrence got tired of waiting for it to happen, and filmed a bunch >of lemmings jumping off of a cliff (but not showing the people herding >them over the edge :(. Do biologists still believe that there are >naturally occurring conditions under which lemming will do this? > That was no rumor that was fact. It was not a "scientific" documentry but one of Disney's more disgraceful works of entertainment. I believe they also used a species of lemming that do not go in for mass migration as well, just to make a complete cock up of it. It was not their only fact bending film either. J.S.
paul@actrix.co.nz (Paul Gillingwater) (02/08/90)
In article <19880@netnews.upenn.edu> rowe@pender (Mickey Rowe) writes: >Although it is true that lemmings perform strange mass migrations, I >thought the mass suicide idea had been abandoned. I remember hearing >a rumor once that some people making a documentary meant to show this >occurrence got tired of waiting for it to happen, and filmed a bunch >of lemmings jumping off of a cliff (but not showing the people herding >them over the edge :(. Do biologists still believe that there are >naturally occurring conditions under which lemming will do this? It was a Disney wild-life documentary. In fact, the cliff was a construction, and the lemmings were tossed over by gaffers. This was revealed in a recent expose on Disney film-making. Other interesting quirks were the various "fight scenes" in making things like "Ricky the Racoon". They went through several "Rickys" in filming these sequences, as the bear kept killing them. -- Paul Gillingwater, paul@actrix.co.nz
kja@cbnewsd.ATT.COM (krista.j.anderson) (02/09/90)
<> Well, I did go and look up lemmings in a single encyclopedia. There's more than one species, but at least one of them does migrate when the area becomes over-populated. They spread out, and can and do swim across streams and rivers. Sometimes they drown if the river is too deep or rough or whatever. But it's an accident. They don't drown on purpose. -- Krista A. HONOR Our Neighbors' Original Rights!