The rodent family has many different species; this small list also includes a small animal, the name of which is lemming. Where this cute creature lives, what it eats, how it breeds, you can learn about all this from this article. Small rodents resemble in appearance and lifestyle voles and hamsters. The body of the animal is wrapped in colorful fur, due to which it received the second name - the polar pestle.
Lemming: Description
Before talking about the animal’s lifestyle called lemmming, where the animal lives and what it eats, we’ll look at how a motley rodent looks like. In total, about 20 species of these furry creatures are known on Earth. All of them are very similar to each other, if you do not take into account minor species differences.
The body of the pestle is small but dense, its length is about 15 cm. The tail is small (2 cm), the legs are short, the ears are almost invisible, they are hidden in fur. The fur is yellow-brown, on the back it is much darker and can be mottled or gray-brown.
I would like to note the lemmings of the ungulate, in him, unlike other species, in winter time, the claws on the forelimbs greatly grow. Thanks to such "hooves" the animal obtains food for itself by raking snow.
Where does lemmming live?
This fluffy little baby can take root wherever there is vegetation. So the questions about where the lemmings live, in which zone they live in the wild, can be answered in one word - everywhere. Although there are, of course, places where this hardy and unpretentious rodent can not live. All varieties of lemmings are adapted to polar harsh conditions.
The zone of its permanent habitation falls on the territory of the tundra of Eurasia and North America. The islands of the Arctic Ocean were also honored by a handsome rodent with their presence. Also, places where lemming pestle lives on the coastal territory of the Arctic from the White Sea to the Bering Sea are seen. This animal is considered the indigenous inhabitant of Novaya Zemlya, Novosibirsk Islands, Severnaya Zemlya and Wrangel Islands. Now you know where lemmings live.
Lifestyle
Polar pestles affect the vegetation of the tundra, creating a kind of microrelief. Why this happens, you can find out by considering the question of where the lemmings live, where and how they arrange their homes.
These rodents live in minks, which they themselves dig. The place of residence of lemmings is similar to a dungeon with many winding passages, because of this, in territories where there are many such animals, the relief of the soil changes. In burrows, these pussies equip their nests. In the warm season, underground, and in winter frosts - just under the snow.
When the weather is warm and the sun is shining, pestles can often be seen running between bumps or sitting near their minks. The sight is very comical! The animal looks funny, sitting on a plump tail, while the lemmings quickly wave their front paws and shrillly screaming, trying to scare away possible enemies with such actions.
In search of food, pies often go great distances, moving alone. If you observe such migration from the side, it seems that a whole flock is moving. All due to the fact that too many rodents are moving in one direction. When traveling, lemmings are able to cross water bodies, swimmers from them are excellent. They also cross fearlessly any settlements they encounter along the way. Although on the road a lot of animals die for various reasons.
The average life span of polar speckles is two years.
What do lemmings eat?
The diet of a furry animal depends on where the lemmings live. The basis of the feed is herbaceous plants, or rather, their soft parts. Favorite delicacy - cotton grass and sedge. In addition, lemmings with pleasure eat young shoots and leaves of willow and birch, moss, blueberries, cloudberries and other berries.
Pestles need a lot of food, despite their small size. During the day, lemmings eat up such an amount of food that exceeds its own weight by half. If you calculate for the whole year, you get about 50 kg of food.
