The whole “lemmings jump off a cliff in mass-suicide” thing is a stale joke, actually. It has been debunked a long time ago, which is why I groan each time this type of joke comes up. It all stems back to a “documentary” filmmaker for Disney threw a bunch of lemmings off a cliff, and claimed that this was the real migration pattern of lemmings. And for that, he won a bunch of awards, and started a terrible myth that influenced pop culture ever since.
Actually from that height, a lemming would be a bit shaken up, but otherwise undamaged. The square-cube law would keep their terminal velocity low enough, there wouldn’t be much impact. Cats (much larger) will survive a fall from over 30 feet that they would get serious damage at 20. It takes them that long to turn legs down, body flattened, and be their own parachute.
PICTO over 9 years ago
I did not know that lemmings flowered.
kimandre over 9 years ago
The whole “lemmings jump off a cliff in mass-suicide” thing is a stale joke, actually. It has been debunked a long time ago, which is why I groan each time this type of joke comes up. It all stems back to a “documentary” filmmaker for Disney threw a bunch of lemmings off a cliff, and claimed that this was the real migration pattern of lemmings. And for that, he won a bunch of awards, and started a terrible myth that influenced pop culture ever since.
hippogriff over 9 years ago
Actually from that height, a lemming would be a bit shaken up, but otherwise undamaged. The square-cube law would keep their terminal velocity low enough, there wouldn’t be much impact. Cats (much larger) will survive a fall from over 30 feet that they would get serious damage at 20. It takes them that long to turn legs down, body flattened, and be their own parachute.
mightyfrog over 9 years ago
Was thinking something similar.