what is the meaning of LEMMINGS?

Question

i heard they commit suicide why?

peoples please dont paste everything i am asking your knowledge not google info

Answer 1

The Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary defines “lemming” as any of various small short-tailed furry-footed rodents (as genera Lemmus and Dicrostonyx) of circumpolar distribution that are notable for population fluctuations and recurrent mass migrations.

The term is often used to describe individuals who display “lemming-like” behavior by simply following the leader, or one another, often over cliffs (into the sea) to their own destruction, although actual lemmings do not actually exhibit that type of behavior.

Answer 2

Suicide myth
While many people believe that lemmings commit mass suicide when they migrate, this is not actually the case. Lemmings will often migrate in large groups and as a result some lemmings will occasionally be pushed off cliffs or drowned in bodies of water simply by the press of their compatriots, or by the dimension of the body of water. The myth of lemming mass suicide is long-standing and has been popularized by a number of factors. It is usually stated that the main source of the belief in the suicide myth was propagated by The Walt Disney Company documentary White Wilderness which includes footage of lemmings running head-long over a ledge. However, the filmmakers contrived this scene by forcing a number of lemmings off a cliff.[3]

Due to their association with this odd behavior, lemming suicide is a frequently-used metaphor in reference to people who go along unquestioningly with popular opinion, with potentially dangerous or fatal consequences

Answer 3

Lemmings are small rodents. They don't commit suicide on purpose. They travel in large herds, and as a result, some of them can get pushed into water or off cliffs. Also, it's a really fun computer game!

Answer 4

Lemmings are small animal... lookalike mouse without tail. And they are not suicidal as the games and movie made believe. But in there attempts to space they will do anything necessary to achieve in there move to other spaces...... and that sometimes results in a mass killing situation.

I have a site below with picture of a lemming.

Answer 5

lemming:

Any of several species of small rodents belonging to the family Cricetidae and found primarily in northern temperate and polar regions of North America and Eurasia. Lemmings have short legs, small ears, and long, soft fur. They are 4 – 7 in. (10 – 18 cm) long, including the stumpy tail, and are grayish or reddish brown above, paler below. They feed on roots, shoots, and grasses and live in burrows or rock crevices. They are noted for regular population fluctuations, and for their periodic migrations in spring and fall. Those of the Norway lemming (Lemmus lemmus) are the most dramatic, because many of the migrants drown in the sea. However, lemmings are hesitant to enter water and, contrary to legend, do not plunge into the sea in a deliberate death march.

Answer 6

A story: A scientist develops a device to speak with animals. He goes out to test it and finds a lemming. He asks it: "Why is it that when there are too many of you for the land to sustain you limit your numbers by drowning.". The lemming answers "That is curious I always wondered how humans expect to thrive while they don't."

Answer 7

I don't know why they commit suicide. I have only heard the term in reference to people behaving like lemmings.
A herd type mentality.
It may be similar to why numbers of whales beach themselves.

Answer 8

You mean the little animals called lemmings?
Supposedly they all jump off a cliff into the ocean or something.

Answer 9

It is meant as those who would blindly follow a group/mass of people and would do anything with that group without questioning the consequences. Good move asking for personal responses.

Answer 10

The term regarding people is meant to describe a group of people who are blind followers of something pretty misguided, and so blind they are to that, that they could wind up for lack of a better word, screwed for it.