The Great Lemming Suicides

By Shamini Bundell

They call him Mickey the Shit.

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Top Ten Urban Myths

“Do investors behave like lemmings?” ask researchers at the University of Southampton. They are referring, of course, to the well known behaviour of lemmings following each other off cliffs in mass suicides seemingly at random (the investors weren’t committing suicide apparently, just copying each other).

What is less well know, however, is that the suicidal behaviour of lemmings is actually a malicious rumour spread by the Disney Corporation and their enormous rodent rival, Mickey Mouse.

The great plot to defame the lemmings’ good name began in 1958 when Disney produced a documentary called ‘White Wilderness’. Although lemmings were not native in the part of Canada where filming took place, producers immediately saw their chance to portray the creatures as incredibly stupid when compared to their own characters. They imported lemmings and started herding them off cliffs in order to film it.

The story had originated due to the frequent lemming population explosions and mass migrations that do occasionally result in the death of many lemmings. The person responsible for the story gaining credulity, however, was Mickey himself. It is unlikely now that lemmings will ever recover their reputation, while the fame and riches of the Disney mouse has only increased.

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