Northern Collared Lemming

Fascinating facts about the Northern Collared Lemming

• Measuring just 14 cm in length with a 1.5 cm tail and weighing about 40 g, the northern collared lemming is a tiny rodent with a short, chunky build; its small ears and short legs complete the miniature profile that helps it move swiftly through tundra vegetation.
• When winter blankets the Arctic, the lemming's normally grey fur changes to a stark white, providing camouflage against the snow-covered ground. This seasonal coat shift is accompanied by the development of large digging claws on its front feet, and during the cold months the animal retreats beneath the snowpack, constructing burrows.
• Beyond the mainland tundra of northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland, a distinct group of northern collared lemmings inhabits Wrangel Island in Siberia, forming a disjunct population separated by thousands of kilometres. This island population was once regarded as a separate species, named the Wrangel lemming, before taxonomic revisions linked it to D. groenlandicus.
• Northern collared lemmings experience a regular population cycle that lasts three to four years, with numbers swelling dramatically before collapsing. During the peak years the animals become so numerous that they spread out from crowded spots, moving away to find new territory. This boom-and-bust pattern is a hallmark of their ecology and shapes the dynamics of the tundra community.
• The northern collared lemming constantly cuts narrow runways through the low tundra vegetation, leaving clear tracks that trace its movements. It also builds shallow burrows just above the permafrost, and in winter pushes these tunnels beneath the snow, creating insulated passages.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Northern Collared Lemming

In the Arctic tundra's vast expanse, the Northern Collared Lemming weaves a secretive existence, its tiny paws barely disturbing the fragile mosses and lichens that carpet the permafrost. With an irrepressible spirit, it darts and scurries through the low-lying vegetation, its stocky body and short tail a testament to its adaptability in this harsh, beautiful landscape. As it forages for the tender shoots and leaves that sustain it, the lemming's large, watchful eyes seem to hold a deep wisdom, a knowledge of the unforgiving yet majestic world it inhabits.

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