Brave inhabitants of the North, or What do lemmings eat in the tundra?

Lemmings are small animals, outwardly and in a way of life reminiscent of hamsters and voles. The second name of lemmings is polar pies. From the zoological point of view, this animal belongs to the detachment of rodents and the subfamily of the voles. Lemmings are the eternal inhabitants of the tundra and forest-tundra. In this article, you will learn how to look and what lemming in the tundra feed on. It is not surprising, but in such severe conditions of life these animals feel quite comfortable. This is due to the fact that from time to time they commit barbarian invasions on foreign lands. About everything in order.

How do lemmings look?

Before telling where exactly they live and what lemmings eat in the tundra, it is advisable to learn about the peculiarities of their appearance. These are small animals of the mouse type. Their body length does not exceed 15 cm, 2 cm of which is a tail. The weight of the animal is 20-70 g. The fur of these creatures is long and dense, has a yellow-brown color with dark spots. The feet of the animal and its tail are painted in a purely yellow color, and the abdomen is painted in sand. A distinctive feature of lemmings are two strips of yellow, located on the muzzle and coming from the eyes. In winter, the fur of the animal brightens strongly (whitens), and the claws on the front legs grow even stronger.

Lemmings. Where do they live?

Than these creatures feed - we will find out a little later, now it is worth considering where they live. Lemmings are common in tundra and forest-tundra (in part) of North America and Eurasia. Several species of these creatures have survived on the islands of the Arctic Ocean. The favorite places for studying lemmings by zoologists are northern swamps, for example, Scandinavia.

There are 6 kinds of lemmings on the territory of the Russian Federation. They are distributed from the Kola Peninsula to Chukotka and the Far East. These include the following lemmings:

• forest;
• Norwegian;
• Siberian;
• Ungulate;
• Amur;
• Vinogradov's Lemming.

What do lemmings eat in the tundra?

As already mentioned above, lemmings are rodents. As these creatures live in the tundra, the sturdy northern plants, for example, the so-called reindeer moss, various rhizomes, earrings of dwarf birches serve as food for them . Reserves for the winter they do not. Their nests, animals can arrange right on the ground under the snow, spending in them all winter. At this time they feed on the radical parts of certain tundra plants. They do not get used to fasting often during the winter.

Lemmings. Lifestyle

Lemmings and tundra can not exist without each other, however some of these creatures are still not chained to their "northern home", and from time to time make seasonal migrations. They go to the so-called "summer pastures" - in regions with a sparing climate. There the animals eat mosses, sedge, shrubs, etc. By the way, they are active all year round. After a long journey, lemming for one day can eat twice as much as it weighs! On "summer pastures" these animals are ready to eat for a whole day, making only brief breaks.

Zoologists who watched how live and eat lemmings in the tundra, note one interesting feature: every 15-20 years, these brave men leave their northern territories in great numbers, going on long wanderings. It is curious that neither mountains nor rivers stop this living wave from lemmings. Cases were noted when animals were massively packed into fishing boats, which under their weight could not stand and went to the bottom.

Such invasions inflict huge damage to agriculture, because small wanderers have a really brutal appetite, devouring everything on their way! Fortunately, the cold climate and the presence of certain enemies at times reduce the number of these rodents. At this time, one can observe the mass death of lemmings: the earth is dotted with many thousands of kilometers of their bodies.

These brave ones!

Lemmings, description and nutrition in the tundra which we have considered in the framework of this article, are true brave! For example, it is worth to some stranger only to be next to the lemming mink, as the latter immediately bravely jumps out, gets up on the hind legs, squeaks, grunts and tries in every way to bite him. In general, these creatures attack at any opportunity. Moreover, lemmings are not even bothered by the fact that the enemy may be several times larger than the mink owner himself! Often it plays with them a cruel joke: they become a dinner of wild dogs and cats.