Lovely photo of Lemming skeleton

Lemming Hard Times

This intensely beautiful photo, credited E. Leslie, accompanies a Science News article about how climate change has been negatively impacting the population of Norway lemmings. From Science News:

Norway lemmings, Lemmus lemmus, are about half the size of a guinea pig and live in nests beneath the snow during the winter months. When the snowpack is light and fluffy, warmth from the ground melts small spaces under the snow that the lemmings use to forage for sedges, grasses and mosses without being exposed to predators. But in recent years, warmer winter temperatures have rendered the snow less fluffy. That, in turn, has made the snow more likely to melt and refreeze at ground level, coating the ground with ice and making life more difficult for lemmings.

Climate Change Stifling Lemmings