Lemmings cliff5/30/2023 ![]() So a tendency not to commit suicide would spread through the population. Killing yourself for the good of the population is a selfless act, and any lemmings that selfishly refrained from suicide would outcompete their nobler neighbours. But this doesn’t work in practice as the behaviour could never evolve. In theory, mass suicide would help to control a population that had grown too large for its food supply. In most species the population grows for three years, then crashes to near-extinction in the fourth. This allows them to carry on breeding even as temperatures drop to -20 ☌, driving the population up. Instead, they forage along runs and tunnels dug beneath the snow layer. Unlike many Arctic animals, lemmings do not hibernate through the winter. There are over 20 species, all found in the far north, including Canada, Scandinavia and Russia. Lemmings are small rodents, related to hamsters, gerbils and mice.
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