Lemming

Lemmings are chubby little animals belonging to the rodent family. They look very much like hamsters and guinea pigs. Lemmings dig in the soil to build their nests, which they line with grass. They eat plants and live in areas where food is often scarce.

An old legend about lemmings says that every few years lemmings march to the ocean, jump in and drown. Scientists have learned that some lemmings will move to a new area when the number of lemmings in an area is too high. Lemmings always migrate in a straight direction, crossing anything in their path. If they come to a river, they jump in and swim across it. When they come to the ocean and jump in, they cannot swim across it, so they drown.