Lemmings are small rodents that live in the forest-tundra and tundra of North America and Eurasia. There are several types of these animals. So, Siberian lemmings are common in Kamchatka and many Arctic islands, along the tundra of the Arctic.
In this article we learn the details about these animals: what they eat, how they look, live and breed.
Spread
This lemming lives in the tundra of Eurasia from the interfluve of the Northern Dvina and Onega to the lower Kolyma. Also inhabits islands such as Bely, Vaigach, Novosibirsk, Wrangel. Basically, the southern border of the range coincides with the northern part of the forest-tundra. Isolated isolated populations were recorded in the swampy taiga of the Kolyma Lowland.
Geographic variability
It should be noted that in continental forms, a decrease in size is noted depending on the direction. So, lemming in the tundra in the west lives the largest, decreases eastward. In this case, the brownish-ocher shades are replaced by black tones, extending to the cheeks, sides, and also the lower part of the body, while the dark dorsal stripe disappears. Winter color turns gray and brightens. In the animals of the Novosibirsk islands, it is almost pure white. Also it should be noted that island forms are much larger than mainland ones.
Appearance
Lemming is an animal that is a short-tailed small rodent: its body is up to 18 cm long and its tail is up to 17 mm long. Reaches a weight of 130 g, while males are 10% heavier than females. The general tone of the animal is reddish-yellow with a slight admixture of brownish and gray tones. A thin black strip mainly runs along the ridge from nose to tail. The sides and cheeks are bright rusty; fawn-whitish belly, periodically mixed with yellow. In the area of the auricles and eyes there are dark blurry stripes.
On the rump, a black spot is characteristic of animals with about. Wrangel and the Novosibirsk Islands. Winter fur is dimmer and lighter than summer, periodically almost white, with a thin strip on the back of a light brown hue. The mainland subspecies are slightly smaller than the mainland; the gradual disappearance of the strip and a decrease in size are observed eastward. The diploid number of chromosomes is 50 pieces.
Breeding
Siberian lemmings are very prolific. So, the female mosques from 3 to 5 cubs 6 times a year. Periodically, they multiply simply in huge numbers. In this case, there is a lack of food, after which the animals make massive relocations, while moving in a straight line, like locusts, and devouring everything that they can eat.
What do lemmings eat?
Mostly they eat sedge, sometimes branches of shrubs. Berries and insects are also eaten on occasion, gnawing deer antlers, previously discarded by animals. If you find out what lemmings eat in winter, then it is worth noting that sometimes they gnaw reindeer moss and moss in areas of about a meter and a half. When the snow is compacted, they often go to the surface of the earth.
Lifestyle
Together with a narrow-cranial vole and ungulate lemmings, it belongs to the most common species of rodent tundra. The highest abundance reaches in the polygonal, hummocky and lowland tundra with a well-developed sedge-moss cover. Lemming is found, the photo of which is presented in this article, in the valleys of lakes and rivers, in the low-mountain and piedmont sedge-shrub tundra, in swampy areas. Penetrates through the swamps into the forest zone.
Mandatory conditions for the habitat of the animal is the availability of feed and convenient places for the construction of burrows (peat and soil mounds, moss and sphagnum pillows). In the polygonal tundra (with a microrelief in the form of large polygons that are broken by frost cracks), lemmings (see the photo of the animal in this article) live in the cracks of the peat layer, while using them for quick movement.
A characteristic feature of the lifestyle of animals is living in the snow for most of the year. In winter, they are tied to various sites with a 0.5-1 m snow cover: stream channels, river banks, drying tundra lakes, and also swampy lowlands. They make passages under the snow, build spherical nests from various plant rags and dig snow chambers. In winter, Siberian lemmings live crowded.
During snowmelt, the water is flooded with settlements of animals, and they move to thawed areas, and then to summer habitats. There, on shallow elevations, simple burrows are dug. They also occupy various natural shelters. Surface passages are laid to the aft areas. In adult females, in a snowless period, territoriality is perfectly pronounced; young and adult males roam the territory quite randomly, lingering in various temporary shelters.
Number
It should be noted that the number of animals varies greatly: sometimes they practically cannot be found, periodically (once every 5 years) animals scurry around, are not at all afraid of humans, and are quite aggressive. During these years, the number of ungulate lemmings increases in the same places, with the number of red-backed voles in the forests.
Siberian lemmings at this time inundate mountain valleys and villages, sometimes trying to cross bays and rivers and as a result massively perishes. With their large numbers, rodents do not settle in colonies and are aggressive towards each other. At the same time, migrations may look like organized movements, although each lemming actually moves independently, and only external obstacles sometimes make them come together.