Do Lemmings Commit Mass Suicide?

The Lemming Puzzle Solved!

Academic scientists compete in many ways, but one of the most prestigious prizes is publishing your article in either Science or Nature, two scientific journals at the pinnacle of status and fame. And if you manage to get your paper into one of them, the next step up is to have your article featured on the front cover. I was lucky to get there once, with our lemming paper.

When people hear about lemmings, they immediately think of the myth that lemmings mindlessly follow each other off cliffs—“mass suicide by herd instinct.” But anybody who has any understanding of evolution would immediately realize that this can’t be right. Any kind of mass suicide instinct would be quickly selected out, and only those mutants lacking it (and there are always mutants) would survive and repopulate the world.

So, what is the actual answer? My story begins with Charles Elton, who is deservedly called the father of animal ecology.