Ungava Collared Lemming

Ungava Collared Lemming
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Cricetidae
Genus:	Dicrostonyx
Species:	D. hudsonius
Binomial name
Dicrostonyx hudsonius (Pallas, 1778)
Distribution map of the Ungava Collared Lemming

The Ungava Collared Lemming or Labrador Collared Lemming, Dicrostonyx hudsonius is a small North American lemming.

They have short chunky bodies covered with brownish-grey fur with a thin dark stripe along their back and a yellow line along their sides. They have small ears, short legs and a very short tail. They have a reddish collar across their chest and a reddish patch behind their ears. In winter, they are covered with white fur and they develop enlarged digging claws on their front feet. They are 14 cm long with a 1.5 cm tail and weigh about 60 g.

These animals are found in the tundra of northern Quebec and Labrador. They feed on grasses, sedges and other green vegetation in summer and twigs of willow, aspen and birches in winter. Predators include Snowy Owls, mustelids and Arctic Foxes.

Female lemmings have 2 or 3 litters of 4 to 8 young in a year. The young are born in a nest in an underground burrow or concealed in vegetation.

They are active year round, day and night. They make runways through the surface vegetation and also dig underground burrows above the permafrost. They burrow under the snow in winter. Lemming populations go through a 3 or 4 year cycle of boom and bust. When their population peaks, lemmings disperse from overcrowded areas.

Remains of these animals dating back to the end of the last ice age have been discovered in the Ottawa valley, far south of their current range.

References

1. ^ Linzey, A.V. & NatureServe (Hammerson, G.) (2008). Dicrostonyx hudsonius. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 24 May 2009. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern.