Off the Mark by Mark Parisi for August 26, 2015

This myth was even perpetuated by the YA novel “Julie of the Wolves.” The author’s parents were naturalists, she knew better, but she put it in anyway. One wonders why.

Oh, yeah? How about that ‘Wonderful World of Color’ that traumatized for years? That and the other one with the wasp and the tarantulla.

The physical evidence is overwhelming.

Thank Disney for the myth. And a bunch of dead lemmings… http://factually.gizmodo.com/lemmings-dont-commit-mass-suicide-disney-pushed-them-o-1614038696

The ones already over the edge scream in unison: " Now you tell uuuuuusssssssss !".

Really?? How about Bison? Is that a myth too?

Thank the internet for continued perpetration of the myth.

It’s not a myth! It comes true every year during the elections…

I theorize that the myth persists because people value it as a metaphor. And a source of dark humor. Besides, if not for the myth, we’d have nothing to say about lemmings.

For lemmings it’s a myth; for people it’s a fact. We’ll follow the crowd or any leader that offers a quick solution.

Truth on the internet has rarely affected life for the better. Falsehood on the internet has often led people to jump over the cliff—real or metaphorical.

Tom FlapwellOne could mention that the fluctuation in lemming population affects the distribution of snowy owls. Small lemming population that year is how I saw a snowy owl between Vancouver and the US line.

You must be referring to this:http://www.digitpress.com/library/manuals/lynx/lemmings.pdf

“…rare Leng Lemmings who when they go over and die, young sprout from their bodies with a new generation. The jolt of adrenalin is suspected to start the germination cycle.”

Plants germinate, can’t say sprouting is the right term, either… Mammals “birth”

Uh oh!

What are those things??? Mark please explain

And this after all those years of Far Sides and Speed Bumps and Off the Marks that treated it like it was the real thing.