What is the only animal known to commit suicide?
You are thinking lemmings aren’t you? Nope. The answer is humans.
Contrary to popular belief, lemmings do not periodically hurl themselves off of cliffs and into the sea. They are more likely to be homicidal than suicidal.
Lemmings are rodents, and rodents are known for periodic explosions in their population.
When a lemming population explodes the lemmings will migrate away from the bulk of the population. When the lemmings move they do it groups, they do not all go at the same time. When such a migration occurs, some lemmings die by falling over cliffs or drowning in lakes or rivers. These deaths are not deliberate suicide, but accidental deaths resulting from the lemmings’ venturing into unfamiliar territories and being crowded and pushed over dangerous ledges. When the competition for food, space, or mates becomes too intense, lemmings are much more likely to kill each other than to kill themselves.
If lemmings don’t stampede en mass over cliffs into the sea, why does everyone think they do? We have Walt Disney to thank for that. In 1958 Disney released the movie White Wilderness. The movie was filmed in Alberta, Canada, which is not a native habitat for lemmings and is nowhere near the ocean. The lemmings were bought from Inuit children and imported for use in the film.
To film the migration scenes the lemmings were placed on a snow-covered turntable and filmed from various angles; afterwards, the helpless animals were transported to a cliff overlooking a river and herded over the cliff into the water. White Wilderness does not depict an actual lemming migration, the entire sequence was faked using a handful of lemmings deceptively photographed to create the illusion of a large herd of migrating animals.
Lemmings are found in the cooler northern parts of Eurasia and North America. In general they try to avoid water. They will often scout around the edge of a body of water searching for a narrow place to cross. When they do have to swim they can go about 200 yards if the water is calm. If they have to go much further than that, or the water is rough, most of the animals will drown. So, they try to avoid it.
