Yellow lemming Information Status: rare (Category III), it

Yellow lemming

Information Status: rare (Category III), it lives in the Zaisan basin and the northwestern Tarbagatai mountain range. The lemming is a typical inhabitant of semidesert zones. In recent years, observations have confirmed periodic population explosions (occurring every 3-7 years) among lemmings in the Zaisan Valley. Its population fluctuates from 24 to 130 individuals per hectare. The basic limiting factors are deep freezing of the ground, frequent spring rains which cause flooding of burrows and death from predators. No protection measures have been undertaken. It is necessary to breed this species in the Almaty Zoo and to protect it in the Lake Zaisan Basin

Lifestyle and nutrition Lemmings inhabit the tundra and forest tundra part of Eurasia and North America, and the adjacent islands of the Arctic Ocean. Active all year round. Often spend the winter in nests arranged on the ground under the snow, eating basal parts of plants. Some species migrate seasonally to summer " pasture ." Eat sedges , shrubs and mosses , often heavily eating away the surrounding vegetation. Per night lemming eats twice as much as it weighs itself , and for the year - about fifty kilograms of plant feed. Lemming feeds a day with a few interruptions , some species hoard food for the winter.