Omer 2019 Day 44: Gevurah in Malchut, Bravery in Leadership
Lemmings
When you think of lemmings, the first thing that probably comes to mind is a moving carpet of rodents following each other blindly off a cliff and into the sea. However, this is a common misunderstanding of how these animals actually operate. While no one knows why, it is well documented that lemmings experience dramatic population swings ranging from highs that threaten their ecosystem due to overcrowding to lows that threaten the species with extinction. During thoe booms, lemmings do their best to spread out, and since they can swim, they might find themselves following a braver lemming into the sea in search of more resources. Lemmings can swim, and aren't half bad at it either, but if a lemming were to find itself in, say, the ocean...well, that might be a bit more than it could handle, this is the origin of this misconception.
Walt Disney's White Wilderness, which popularized the myth that lemmings jump off cliffs in a frenzied, unthinking mass suicide.
This year's animal Omer is a collaboration between myself and my friend Halli, a PhD in animal science. Thank you for counting the Omer with us!
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