In 1958, Disney released a wildlife documentary called "White Wilderness." One scene depicts a tiny, brown-furred rodent — a lemming — scuttling about in the Arctic snow. "There is an actual ...

That was before the modern meaning gained traction: That populations tumbled because packs of lemmings would occasionally run head-first off of cliffs, plunging to their self-induced death for no ...

Holger Spiering/Westend61/Corbis. Lemmings, the small burrowing rodents that live in the Arctic regions, are an odd bunch. They look a bit like hamsters, but they are notoriously fierce.

If you know anything about lemmings, it's probably their reputation for plunging off cliffs in acts of mass suicide. But if the puffy little rodents could talk, they'd tell a different story: that ...

But as Renee Montagne explains, the idea that lemmings commit mass suicide is a myth. Animals. The Truth About Lemmings, The Rodent, Not The Political Animal. October 8, 2013 4:00 AM ET.

For a couple of decades, the reputation of the series, like most Disney wildlife documentaries, was unchallenged, and hence, the saying about lemmings became part of everyday culture.That changed ...

The Norwegian lemming (Lemmus lemmus) is perhaps the best-known example, living in a more populated and tourist-friendly area than its counterparts.Dr Edana Lord of Stockholm University decided to ...