Nice photos but low on detail. Here's a more interesting account of Myodes lemmus from August 1877 edition of Popular Science: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Po

Nice photos but low on detail. Here's a more interesting account of Myodes lemmus from August 1877 edition of Popular Science: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_11/August_1877/The_Norwegian_Lemming_and_its_Migrations http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume... To give you an idea of just how massive these population explosions are here is an excerpt from the article: "Mr. R. Collett, a Norwegian naturalist, writes that in November, 1868, a ship sailed for fifteen hours through a swarm of lemmings, which extended as far over the Trondhjems-fjord as the eye could reach." The 3-5 year cycles drive the whole arctic ecosystem. When there are lots of lemmings there are lots of everything. More lemmings means more food for predators so tundra-nesting birds do really well, fledging lots of chicks since the predators can stuff themselves senseless with lemmings. In years with low numbers of lemmings then the birds get hammered hard until the number of predators crashes also.