3 Facts About Lemmings

[@NerysMacMorn]

Thank you, Hank, for bringing up that point about Bambi. My dad and I were just talking about this last week. Fawns are born in the spring, but the deer mating season is in the fall. They're pregnant all through the autumn and winter months, and deliver in the spring. Bambi's mother, apparently, was one of the last to gestate, hence his late birth. I love watching SciShow. You're so funny, and so informative!

[@CortezEspartaco2]

It got an academy award for best documentary and it was filmed in a place where lemmings don't even live. Amazing.

[@matthewanimates2024]

Its a speaker profile :)

[@HighlanderNorth1]

Dis ney has only gotten worse in recent years.

[@misterpotato427]

@@HighlanderNorth1 Killing animals is worse than having trans actors

[@200puppy7]

When I as in 6th grade, my LA teacher had shown us a video showing lemmings' "mass suicide" and said it was true. I raised my hand and said it wasn't, but EVERYONE in the room believed it... They must have thought I was an idiot... GUESS WHO'S LAUGHING NOW!!!

[@christianramlal8062]

Them, who would care so much about this. How long ago was this even, no one would remember.

[@200puppy7]

christian ramlal About four years... I'm just happy I was proven to not be an idiot, since, when I said I learned of this from Animal Planet, nobody believed me...

[@christianramlal8062]

Yeah I know what you mean.

[@RockMuncher224]

i have an idea, DONT TEACH CHILDREN WRONG MYTHS.

[@hortensetaylor5707]

200puppy7 dude we just learned about lemmings and before everyone thought that they are suicidal moronic rodents that fall from the sky. Sixth grade was weird

[@EasterWitch]

I'm Scandinavian, so I have encountered mass migration of lemmings. It's very fascinating, but also sad, because when they cross roads they are often crushed by cars. I have heard of places where so many lemmings have died that parts of the road would become as slippery as if it were covered in ice... Some people thought that if they got to angry they would explode, but that is false. They may die if you torment them to much, but never explode. Please don't torment the lemmings!

[@capt.bart.roberts4975]

There's a pond near Cheltenham, with a road running a long side it. It has warning signs about frogs migrating across the road to spawn. I've been there in breeding season, there are thousands of the wee buggers.

[@joheyjonsson2825]

Lemmings are also extremely annoying!! Car accidents multiply during lemming explosion years in Sweden. They are very cute, though.

[@SugaryPhoenixxx]

Seriously? We dont have lemmings where I live but lots of whitetail deer, & we are taught to never swerve to miss a deer. Just brake hard & hope for the best. I cant imagine swerving to miss a rodent? Of course I dont ever want to hit a squirrel or anything like that but I would not endanger my life (or anyone else's) to save a rodent? or sea of rodents? But my friends wife is from Sweden & she is totally awesome, but she is a crazy animal lover. Like, cant even kill a mouse animal lover. Are all Swedes crazy animal lovers? I suppose not, her brother isn't like that. But is that common in Sweden? BTW your country is beautiful Sofie has shown me pictures of her home & the surrounding area & it is breathtakingly beautiful.

[@joheyjonsson2825]

@@SugaryPhoenixxx Has less to do with swerving to miss and more to do with them becoming so many that the roads become slippery after a while. In some areas, the only way to not run over a lemming is to not drive for a while.

[@kirb86]

Don't say that lemmings are anoing

[@MAJ-Lange]

Um explosion years? What. Do you mean breeding, or do they explode?

[@joheyjonsson2825]

@@MAJ-Lange Well... there is the massive breeding part, but also people giving up on swirving after a while.

[@123blueaddison]

Lemmings are also video game characters which look nothing like the animal and instead look like little green haired people who wear blue.

[@davidgold3nrose]

lemmings you are a lemming

[@PayGorn]

What game?

[@susanwaytan230]

You don't know how God created lemmings

[@FigureFarter]

@@PayGorn It's from the video game also called Lemmings

[@schwarzerritter5724]

#4 Lemmings don't have green hair.

[@Chihirolee3]

+Schwarzer Ritter And hedgehogs are not blue! At least, my hedgehog isn't, nor do I want him to be....

[@modestheliolisk]

Chihirolee3 And horses don't come in any color you can think of. Sadly.

[@TravisLackey]

='(

[@DR3_34D]

And don't where robes

[@khaibutton]

#5 Lemmings do not explode when they get angry (sorry to those same "scientists" who thought they fell from the sky)

[@sysghost]

Proud to say that I knew this already for some time. But that doesn't stop me from playing the computer game "Lemmings". ;) Lemmings was one of the most played games on my Amiga.

[@hardankles3382]

SysGhost same here, but I still listen to Synchronicity 2 by The Police...

[@ricsim78]

The Amiga version was by far the best version, and had the best music as well. Sadly, I have it on my Amiga emulation (my Amiga died long ago, yet is still in my attic and likely a power issue) and the music is missing some samples. I still have the actual Amiga game, also in my attic.

[@JohnWilliams-km4hx]

Disney: Is throwing lemmings off a cliff REALLY more disturbing than them choosing the rat for its mascot?

[@Sara3346]

*A mouse.

[@creaturesoul4469]

Mice are cute

[@andyrevan]

Rats are good pets

[@Rissa_1322]

yes. And his name is literally Mickey MOUSE

[@Tht1Gy]

@@andyrevan "... good pets." And highly intelligent. :-)

[@sojourner8229]

JUSTICE FOR THOSE LEMMINGS: Disney should be _forced_ to give BACK the award they won through deceit and animal cruelty, and the award for that year should go to the true winner that year, whoever that is. THANK YOU for this video, well done!

[@scifirocks]

Lemmings do well if you give them umbrellas when they fall off cliffs, otherwise, oh no!

[@davidgold3nrose]

scifirocks haha. I hated that game

[@Pining_for_the_fjords]

They are good at building bridges though.

[@leavesonwheels]

but why did they do that to the lemmings? what were they trying to accomplish??

[@42Fossy]

They heard about the fact that they may accidentally kill themselves when crossing rivers during mass migration and exaggerated it in a way that was more dramatic and cinematic.

[@medhawinikapoor4735]

Sensationalism

[@alexjonezNH]

Oooh, that would be an excellent video! I had always considered glass to be in that semi-solid category (like jell-o), but it would be great to see what Hank thinks about it!

[@Dementat]

But to they scream "oh no!" in cute fashion before they explode?

[@Slagdar]

oh hank, next thing you're gonna tell me is that they don't have Green hair, and do not walk on 2 legs.

[@foxythunder481]

Disney continued this trend in Zootopia, where Nick sets up shop outside the “Lemmings Bros. Bank” and sells popsicles to ALL the lemmings, just because the first one decided to.

[@cerebrummaximus3762]

'Disney continued this trend...'' At this Point isn't it more of a joke/inside joke/allusion more than 'continuing the Trend'? I am Preetty sure that at this Point everybody knows how Lemmings truly act, so that in Zootropolis was more of a Joke or a Reference to the Myth rather than 'continuing the Trend'...

[@catherineroberts7473]

THANK YOU!! Lemmings aren't stupid. No creature is THAT dumb. Some animals may murder other animals, but they would not kill themselves. Because it is not a part of their instincts to throw themselves off a cliff once they find life too boring. If it were, there would be no Lemmings or animals left on this planet. Bravo SciShow, making people look like fools, once again.

[@xtremej2575]

Abbie AR "No creature is THAT dumb" wrong. Humanity. 😐

[@RPGgrenade]

thanks you for mentioning the whole Disney thing! CGPgrey tried to mention it in his 10 common animal misconceptions video, but for some reason took that bit out an hour or so after uploading it!

[@latenighter1965]

when you started talking about the Lemmings I swore you would've shown the old video game graphics from the Lemmings game(s), now that would've been funny.

[@Kunabee]

I have depression. I want to be happy. It has taken me YEARS to be able to cope with a mixture of meds and coping skills learned from my therapist to have it be almost non-existant. I still have to see my therapist.

[@mejistus]

who actually takes time out of their lives to dislike videos that don't offend anyone rofl

[@Miranox2]

I am offensive. You are offensive. Everything and everyone is offensive. Deal with it.

[@mejistus]

Miranox ok guy

[@davidgold3nrose]

Joseph Lee they offended Disney. Duh. Lol but in all seriousness, before KZbin put in the 'not interested' option, if I found something boring I would dislike it to re-tune my recommendations. I'm pretty sure other people do, too

[@carltheodorgustavsson120]

In Norway we have lemmings in the mountains, the creatures can get really pissed! And children are told that a lemming can get so pissed that it blows up... And an other thing to look at is that the last years in Norway, the population of lemmings have not got as big as it used to every 4th year, this has resulted in near extinction for our mountain foxes...

[@woihjsd]

Deer mate in the fall. Disney lied to me?!

[@vulixirus]

Well i mean they have babies in the spring so it sounds reasonable if you think about it.

[@Tamaki742]

But that part with Bambi and Faline during the springtime, though.

[@davidgold3nrose]

Terri weak argument I know, but no where does it actually say it's spring. It just says it's April. Which, in the Southern Hemisphere, is autumn (fall)

[@mollyclune]

I didn't even know that Lemmings are real until right now! I learn so much from SciShow! :)

[@Sewblon]

So does this mean that we need to start a Lemming Anti-defamation League?

[@jdaniels4898]

Absolutely. Same as 🐹. Which are actually quite intelligent critters. We people nowadays use some words without even thinking if we use it appropriately. Lemmings and hamsters are not stupid at all.😄 But we take it as a granted if we hear it, for some reason.🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[@Jameseus13]

Almost 1 million subscribers. Getting close! Great job Scishow.

[@ChilupaKing]

Disney, you've DONE IT AGAIN!!! >:(

[@snigeltomtevideos]

How much research and preparation do you guys have to do for every episode? No other channel gives me so much joy and entertainment :P

[@snake698]

I thought lemmings were green-haired people that you had to save solving puzzles

[@davidgold3nrose]

snake698 that game just went way too quickly. I always just ended up rage quitting on the second or third level. I do puzzles. I don't do puzzles under pressure

[@snake698]

Nae Harris Hahaha well it's not like you get any penalty for loosing, but you gotta stand the "retry" word

[@davidgold3nrose]

snake698 I just felt like I didn't get a chance to learn what everything was supposed to do (plus the PS3 controls for the game) before the damn things died

[@snake698]

Nae Harris Huh, I used to play it in computer. Before CD's were a thing LOL

[@davidgold3nrose]

snake698 haha. Cool. I had the demo version downloaded onto a PS3. Good thing, seeing as I ended up rage quitting before I even finished the demo

[@soCptObvious]

i would suggest watching "The Misunderstood Epidemic" it is a wonderful documentary that looks at people with depression and causes and treatments. and when i say wonderful i mean saddening but accurate, i have family experience with depression and that video was highly informative.

[@wdizard]

Lemmings exonerated; great. Cynical, dishonest & greedy filmmakers exposed: supercalifragalisticexpealidocious!

[@JohnFleshman]

As a person who used to go deer hunting with my dad as a teen I was rather pleased when you mentioned the mating thing. deer hunting season is the week before mating season. if I remember right late September early October in Oregon

[@headrockbeats]

While it's true that lemmings are not suicidal, they do occasionally fall of cliffs in large numbers - as may happen to any animal herd that passes through cliffy areas. Occasionally, the herd will encounter a cliff and attempt to find another way around it, but the mounting pressure from animals at the back will push some individuals who are closer to the cliff - and in some cases many individuals - off the cliffside. That was probably the event that Disney sought to portray in that film, though they presented it in a completely false manner, as intentional suicide.

[@soCptObvious]

this i won't argue with, some therapists are just Rx happy. but generally the ones that don't need the help, phase out with in a few months....the really depressed patients end up either taking like 5-8 types of meds (one antidepressant, one to counteract the nausea the first one causes, one to counteract the shakiness the second one causes etc,) or they end up in rehab centers....and the idea that people can't see it as a real illness is sickening to me. no one wants to be like that.

[@shaneclark8903]

I'm glad that my city is now commented with "lemming suicides..." Thanks Disney.

[@Onychoprion27]

Bambi getting twitterpated in the spring wasn't nearly the worst thing Disney did to that great book.

[@renthakidd216]

"Boom hard and bust fast" hehehe

Keep those nice illustrations comming in the next episodes too, Hank

[@Bashirbros]

I want one

[@Immerglad]

Once i went hiking in Norway. At the road i saw a little lemming "screaming" at me, apparently i was close to his lair. This went on for about 10 seconds when the little guy disappeard in some bushes. SO CUTE ;D My gradpa told me that lemmins sometimes to that then they become stressed.

[@daedra40]

Fuckin Disney. Fuckin.

[@chemistryguy]

Cool fact #4 Lemmings was a wicked cool game on the SNES. S'true!

[@Journeyofanentrepreneur]

Disney Killed The Lemmings

[@anthonyosborn5747]

OMG REALLY?

[@Journeyofanentrepreneur]

yes

[@TheAnantaSesa]

and the radio star! Look at southpark on the Jonas bros.

[@gamezoid1234]

there are more factors to it then "your state of mind" i would say it involves what you eat, how you life is goind, and other things. but if you have it you can't control it.

[@Romanticoutlaw]

this is a good reminder to always check facts, even on documentaries

[@keithhenriquez1531]

Another great video Hank.

[@MaggieKSullivan]

:) Thanks for that. To the other guy: For someone who goes through depression, you can't say "I'm happy," and it magically changes your state of mind.

[@BoudiccaofIceni]

Bambi was a late spring baby, but he was conceived in the fall. It would be hard for the mother deer to find enough food for her and the fawn or fawns if they were born in the fall.

[@ellieban]

My understanding of hard population spikes and crashes was that they were evolutionarily dangerous because they can lead to chaotic population levels with wild unpredictable swings that can eventually include zero population, from which there's no recovery. Obviously. I think I read that in "Last Chance to See"?? Anyway, point is, this case sounds like a long-term meta-stable system, so how do Lemming populations avoid the problem of chaos and associated eventual extinction risk?

[@DannyECO7]

AHHHH! God dammit! I'm so anxious!!! I want SciShow to reach 1,000,000 subscribers! I've been with SciShow since they had 220,000 subscribers and I still can't get enough! Go Hank! Go SciShow!!!

[@crispycornbread]

The fact that people think that the lemmings blindly follow others was created by that film. Dingus.

[@yvainesonata979]

Awesome vid! Lemmings are adorable!

[@SSDragon19]

i havnt heard much about lemmings before, ive never seen one and never seen that documentary before, but they do look adorable

[@ellyejennings8261]

LOL I loved the deer don't get twitterpated in spring fact! just the fact that you remembered the word twitterpated was totally awesome!!!! lol

[@samurphy]

It's a solid. The old saw of "glass is thicker at the bottom in old houses because it's flowing" is false because it's just as likely to be thicker at the top. Old glass plates are of inconsistent thicknesses because they use to blow glass, then spin it like a pizza dough, which they then cooled and cut to make window panes.

[@chefkendranguyen]

This was really interesting, I didn't know one thing about Lemmings...well, there was that video game.. :)

[@EcceJack]

I find it amusing that what I always, always hear about lemmings is (and is by now stuck firmly in my brain): "They are small rodents living in the Arctic who are, contrary to the popular belief, NOT suicidal" - even though I've never actually heard anyone say anything like: "Lemmings are suicidal and will even jump off cliffs in great numbers" xD

[@soCptObvious]

i'm not saying it is a disease, it is an illness, you want to talk to the other guy who "doesn't believe in it" and thinks its a simple state of mind one can snap out of.

[@soCptObvious]

yes i know all of this! i've seen depression first hand, and this Chris Raines fool is all "oh is just a bad mood, they snap out of it when something good happens" "the serotonin deficiency is a mental thing not a chemical one" i'm aware depression is a mental illness that needs real treatment.

[@MrPestus]

That seems like an Idea. A very articulate and thought out one.

[@carrlozXemiliano]

I loved that bambi throw in :P haha

[@MareCat31]

THANK YOU!! someone who actually understands that some of us cant help it.

[@RobKinneySouthpaw]

Ask a local glass blower. It has more to do with the fact that old window-making techniques (like spinning or just center-pouring a pane of glass and then cutting squares out of it) left panes thicker at one end. Competent glazers would install the panes thick end down so the stress of the weight would be on the thicker part.

[@DavidVitez]

Not really related to Lemmings, but I've been meaning to suggest this for a while. How about an episode about the "is glass a liquid or solid" debate, and other strange materials?

[@Si11yShaman]

Great job Hank. You rock!!!

[@DoorSCARF]

Seeing as there is already a debate - I think this is a very good idea for a video! (I was under the impression it got wider at the bottom over time but am very open to be proven wrong)

[@Netstra44]

It's funny. Today at school my history teacher teacher called us all Lemmings. I corrected him on every thing he said... Thanks Scishow!

[@jordanmc7025]

I love the angry deer fact thrown in there hahah :)

[@xanderfoxjsc]

the greatest natural predator of Lemmings, Disney!

[@Thurgor_Supreme]

Yay!! Hank is back!

[@shodanxx]

I wonder where the meme of "disney faked lemming behavior" originated from ? There must have been one particular writer or documentary that shockingly exposed Disney and ever since, whenever lemmings are mentionned, Disney is mentionned too. So much so that the first time I heard about lemming jumping off cliffs was from someone telling that they didn't do that.

[@ThePrincessStardusty]

Thank goodness someone is getting this done and right, ... bout time, !!!

[@shaenaharasty9918]

when i was in fourth grade our teacher told us the little piece of trivia that you talked about today, that lemmings are suicidal. me being the nature freak that i am was and still am today, when up to her a few days later to tell her that it was a set up that dinesy shot for a documentary. she thought i was the crazy one.she never told the class the truth and they still beleive it to this day

[@AllTheUsernamesRUsed]

How do fossils form? It was very interesting to hear that lemmings were around 2 million years ago. It would be nice if scishow made a paleontology episode, fossils and spinosaurus and chicken raptor carnivore turkeys. Maybe Emily could do one.

[@romantheflash]

Wait, why are they mean then? Also lemmings are adorable, and I can understand if there is a mass of them running to a place, a few may fall off here or there.

[@JBX07]

Has Scishow had an episode on the spectrum crunch yet? That seems like a pretty cool topic.

[@ibaram9674]

"It's a boom and bust cycle and there's reason to fear it" if u get tht reference u r awesome

[@yunthi]

the fact that old glass is thicker at the bottom has got nothing to do with glass flowing. old mouthblown glass sure was flowing before it set , its also uneven, and while its cooling it has a tendency to bend. the thicker part usually remains straight and is installed down, while the curvy thin part is then pressed against the frame with a runner. its an installing technique that causes the thick bottom of old glass - glassworker that has done work at museum buildings

[@Nathanchooper]

I assume that you must speak very clearly. I am using the automatic captions (which are normally terrible) and it makes sence. I'm probably the only person who cannot hear your voice, but I'm probably the one who is most appreciative of how clear it must be. DFTBA

[@LetsTakeWalk]

Still one of the best puzzle games ever made.

[@XxPolarBear96xX]

i've seen SO MANY references to lemmings jumping of cliffs while growing up, it's always the first thing i think of whenever i think of them

[@MrSauceman09]

I thought he was going to reference the lemmings dos game.

[@leprechaungiant1]

The game "Lemmings" is still one of my all time favorites.

[@MrPestus]

I like this. You troll depressed people. They respond to counter trolling. You tell them you're too good to experience what they did. However, this doesn't displace the claim you made about not believing in it. It just makes you a troll.

[@10skullkid01]

I'm so happy with these facts. ^_^

[@JohnDobyns]

Hank, saw your SciShow about electric airplanes from last year, and I think you look great with a beard. Jus saying, since winter is coming.

[@chrisraines1564]

Well said

[@maxallred1991]

Can you do an episode on PCR AKA polymerase chain reaction. It is a really cool tool that we use in my genetics classes and i thought others would like to know more about it.

[@JanCRefsgaard]

because it kinda is and is not, if you measure the energy of glass you will observe that it it keeps getting lower and lower because it is slowly going towards theoretical solid equilibrium state that is never reached, liquids go all over the place and solids have 'constant' energy... glass does not have either characteristic :)

[@LiaEA]

I was depressed once. I was was coming to grips with my mortality and the fact that everyone I knew and loved would die, and how eventually humanity would end as well one day far far in the future. I thought about all of the humans through out history who have struggled to push human civilization forward and how one day all of our effort would be wiped way. I also went through a similar line of thought regarding God and the after-life. Then one day I watched TTGL and I shrugged off my despair.

[@RawringAtYouNoobs]

That would be an interesting episode, although there's not much of a debate on whether glass is a liquid or a solid any more

[@blahahah11]

Sof if we use the insult "Lemming", it should mean an "easy come, easy go" sort of person.

[@Fatshadow33]

lol, I just saw one of your comments on hank's Brother's channel Mental floss, and now I see you here. What is this madness!

[@johngalt6570]

Actually that is a common misconception, Glass is actually an 'amorphous solid' - in other words, it is essentially between being a liquid and a solid. Glass atoms would move far too slowly for that to be the cause of window thickness differentials, as it would likely take a minimum of thousands of years for anything resembling this to occur.

[@1MinuteWithDC]

Please please please do a video on Cold Fusion . . . the legitimacy of it, the theory, and the possibilities of it . . .

[@CramBoom]

While we are on the topic of animal misconceptions, goldfish are some of the hardiest fish around. Once, a goldfish was left on a stone floor for 7 hours and it was found alive.

[@randomgirlxrulz]

Bambi was an autumn baby?! My whole life is a lie.

[@OctagonCookies]

Ever played "The Adventure of Lomax"? It's an adventure game based of the Lemmings characters with Lomax being a hero that saves them from monsters, it was really fun.

[@Knoxie00]

The thought of lemmings being blown everywhere ha made me laugh more than I should have

[@alexChenAUS]

it only takes between decades and centuries to see glass slump down into itself depending on quality, size and thickness... We use to have huge glass panels out front of Melb. Arts Centre which very noticably drooped down over a period less than 50yrs