Flora and fauna of the northern latitudes do not shine with diversity. There are not so many animals that have adapted to live in permafrost conditions. Each student will name a polar bear, a polar fox, a fox among the animals of the Arctic. But not everyone knows that the existence of these predators directly depends on a small fluffy inhabitant of the northern latitudes, whose name is the ungulate lemming.
Species diversity and natural range
Lemmings are one genus of the hamster family. In total, there are about 20 species of lemmings, the species differences of which are not very significant. Representatives of the genus inhabit the arctic zones of Europe and North America. On the territory of Russia, they are quite widespread: the floodplain of the Mezen River, the Lena Delta, the Kanin Peninsula, the Chukotka Peninsula, the Vaigach and Novaya Zemlya Islands, Medvezhye and Wrangel Islands. In the Russian Arctic zone, Siberian and ungulate lemmings are predominantly distributed. Siberian is also called brown, and ungulates - collared.
Externaldifferences
Lemmings look almost like pet hamsters. The body is dense, no more than 15 centimeters. The weight of an adult animal rarely exceeds 150 g. The color of the Siberian lemming is brown or reddish-yellow, a clear black stripe runs along the back. Color does not change throughout life. The hoofed lemming in the warm season is ash gray to tawny in color with a black stripe on the back. Around the neck there is an inexpressive light stripe that looks like a small collar. In winter, the animal changes color to white, and its claws on the middle fingers of the forelimbs grow and flatten, acquiring the shape of a spatula or hoof. The tail of lemmings is short and covered with sparse fur.
Etiology
Animals lead a solitary lifestyle or nest in pairs in minks, winding and multi-passage, which they themselves dig and equip. Around the mink, in their lands, they lay many trails. Interestingly, in winter, under the snow, they will follow the same routes.
Lemmings are good swimmers, but won't swim unless they really need to. The animals have a good appetite and can eat constantly. It is estimated that a lemming can eat twice its weight in food per day. The main diet is poor northern cereals and few berries, all parts of trees and shrubs, tundra moss and lichens. Lemming will not pass by bird eggs and shells, rare worms. With pleasure, he can gnaw on discarded deer antlers.
Though small, but not so cowardly hoofed lemming!A photo of an animal can be misleading. These cute fluffies are very aggressive when protecting their home, food or offspring - the animal stands on its hind legs and whistles loudly in a peculiar way.
Main link
In conditions of permafrost and scarce food, it is the lemming that becomes the main link in the trophic chain of predators of the North. The animal serves as the main prey for such predators as the northern weasel, ermine, arctic fox, fox, wolf and snowy owl. The ungulate lemming ensures their existence and successful survival. For the endangered species of snowy white owl, these rodents make up about 95% of the diet.
Features of reproduction
The more the female brings cubs, the more food is needed for them. In nature, everything is interconnected: the scarcity of food in the conditions of northern latitudes imposes restrictions on the systematic nature with which the ungulate lemming breeds. The habitat has set reproductive limits in the cycles of reproduction of offspring - in lean years, the birth rate stops.
A female from the age of two months can give birth up to six times a year for five or six blind cubs. Two weeks after birth, they already eat food that is normal for their development and begin to live independently. It is easy to imagine the population size of the ungulate lemming with a life expectancy of up to two years. That is why, during periods of a surge in population growth, lemmings migrate from their usual places where there is very little food.
Pets
It is now fashionable to have unusual pets as pets. Lemmings are exotic hamsters. The rules for their maintenance and feeding do not differ from those in relation to hamsters. With good maintenance, lemmings can live up to four years. Keep them in pairs or singly. But keep in mind that with abundant nutrition, the female will give offspring all six times a year. And don't expect your pet to be white by winter. The change in coat color depends on many factors, but the main one is the length of daylight hours and ambient temperature.
Legends of mass suicides
During the years of mass reproduction, hundreds of animals leave their lands and rush to new places in search of food. From the side of an observer of lemming migration, the sight can cause superstitious horror. A continuous reddish-brown stream of animals rushes to an obstacle, for example, a river or a cliff, and overcomes it. As a result, thousands of individuals die. During migration, many die in the teeth and claws of predators.
In fact, the animals migrate one by one, just in front of the barrier they accumulate in groups, sometimes very large. We are not talking about any mass suicide in this case - this is a life-affirming throw! And, by the way, only those individuals who run in the forefront, paving the way for everyone else, die.
Mystical animals
Indeed, earlier the indigenous people of the North, observing the mass migration of lemmings, associated this event with unfavorable predictions and even with sacrifices for the inhabitants of other worlds. The year of lemming migration was considered dangerous.
Hoofed lemming due tothe structural features of his paws were endowed with the qualities of a werewolf. The peoples of the North have a legend that on the full moon the animals turn into werewolf rams and drink the blood of wolves. And they say that the terrible whistle of a lemming portends great grief to those who hear it.
Modern biology has debunked many myths about animal life, including lemmings. Without these tiny furry animals, the life of the North would be in jeopardy. Trophic chains firmly connect the furry pussies not only with predators, but also regulate the ratio of flora in the biogeocenoses of the tundra and the Arctic regions.
