Luka Suon
November 6, 2008
Sociology 202-begun at 3:30 p.m.
The Lemmings are in Peril!
In Southern Norway, scientists have noticed that the climate change is affecting the cycles of animals living in those habitats. With little snow coming in there are fears that this is reducing the habitats for these animals, especially lemmings. Researchers believe the lack of Norwegian lemmings (Lemmus lemmus) is affecting other animals in the areas, such as foxes or owls, who are their primary quarry in these instances. Until the mid-1990's their populations have remained extremely high, with a cycle varying from three to five years. Lemmings do not hibernate in the winter months but rather inhabit the space between the snow and the ground. Normally, in dry winters they would be able to survive in large numbers until spring, when their population exploded.
In cases of population explosion snowplows were deployed to "limit" their numbers.
Recently, however, the lemmings have found it extremely difficult to forage for food, leading to a decrease in their numbers. Scientists from France and Norway believe with the warming of winter the lemmings are having a difficult time adapting to these new circumstances.
Once again, nature has a way of telling us how we're doing in terms of planetary health. This is a red flag, a warning of what is happening to Earth. As the planet warms up animals are finding themselves vulnerable to the changes imposed on them. It's unfair; it's not like the lemming asked for the planet to go up a couple degrees where it can't find any food. Besides, I'm sure we didn't ask for the planet to warm up either. It's lamenting to see how blind we all are to the plight of the co-inhabitants and yet we are apathetic. Well...we are stupid after all.
Links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7711709.stm
href="http://digg.com/environment/Climate_pushing_lemmings_to_cliff">http://digg.com/
environment/Climate_pushing_lemmings_to_cliff
http://www.ginnn.com/news/1998348/climate_pushing_lemmings_to_cliff.html
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2008/11/06/12437f325408
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=109859
1 comment:
Oh no, not the lemmings!!!
They are too cute to suffer!
Anyway, I think we need to become more conscious of our delicate eco-systems and the animals we share the planet with.
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