The following is my translation of an article called: Ein Rätsel im Tierleben des Polarkreises von Prof Dr Adolf Kahn in Heidelberg. It appeared in a German popular science magazine, Kosmos Handweiser für Naturfreunde 1909, Heft 9, Seiten 266-269. The report is slightly eccentric for the time, as the author neglects to shoot any of the subjects.
Trevor Dykes.

A puzzle in the animal life of the Polar Circle by Prof Dr Adolf Kahn in Heidelberg
How deeply seated is the assumption, in as far as it is held, that believes the animal life of the polar circle to be frozen into death and icy silence! It is not even valid for the winter. The naturally too short summer brings a magical glow, a pinch of the south, for these northern fields, which spreads its light and colour in such a rich diversity and in such fine transformations and stages, that it can make even the south appear pale. A swelling carpet of lovely moss and lichen species spreads over the black marshes in defiant plenty, and spins a soft fleck of twigs above the monstrous surface as if with an artistic work of lace. And how the tough blooms of the Arctic flora steal a place in our heart as, even in the middle of the ice and rock strewn emptiness of the high mountains, Arctic buttercups and the chickweed still manage to flare, a defiant and moving pronouncement of the victorious energy of life! And the animal world also unfolds in the rivers and lakes, in forests and on marshes, in the high mountains and in the loneliness of the tundra in a much greater variety and more richly than is generally believed. And sometimes this northern ground experiences such an overflow of fertility that it exceeds any imagination and, in line with childish beliefs of earlier days, these can only be interpreted as works of miracles and magic.

Indeed, even the scientific research of our days has not yet succeeded in completely illuminating all the darkness which surrounds the sudden appearance of vast swarms of northern rodents, especially the lemmings (Lemmus lemmus Linaeus), or with their just as abrupt disappearance. Still today, the lemming in some areas is: "the most puzzling animal in the whole of Scandinavia", as it appeared to Brehm.

My wish was granted when, on my journey to the Swedish Lappmark that I undertook in the summer of 1907, I encountered masses of lemmings. The relatively limited number of observations so far made in this remote and thinly populated area may justify me here, despite my lack of any education in natural history, to explain what I saw.

My first encounter with lemmings (Swedish: Lämmel) occurred on 17th August, 1907 in Abiskojokk, the small tourist station on the Osoten railway between Kiruna and Riksgränsen below the 68th degree of northern latitude. They often appeared on the open grassland as well as in the lichen and moss carpeted birch forest, and the groves of Juotja and Kaisepakte, but no more often and not in larger numbers as field mice can be seen by us in a 'mouse year'. In contrast, I they saw greater amounts -and this on the first occasion that I met them beyond the polar circle- on the way from Murjek to Wuollerim, and especially in the oat fields that grow by the Gästgisvaregard, the guest- and post house of this place. Wuollerim lies on the road leading from Murjek to Jokkmokk, and that is again within the polar circle.

As small as the settlement of Jokkmokk is, it counts as a main town in Lapland. Its name means 'river rapids', and this is most apt for the character of the landscape. Right by this small place, on a stretch of less than four kilometres, there are two small but water-rich and impressive waterfalls at Luledlf, fed by streams from Lake Baikijaure, and called the Akats and Kajtum, and these bring the whole river into an excitement of foam. Their roar can be heard far through the lonely forests which, nevertheless -in the summer of 1907- were filled with local life. Then, in great hordes the like of which I saw nowhere else in Lapland, lemmings went about their business. The masses were so vast that this never ceased to amaze me. I saw and heard dozens at a time. The movement was constant, and at such a speed that the cute, brown-yellow skirts swang and shivered impressively as the uncommonly active animals rushed about, hither and thither, like clowns in a circus, disappearing beneath every branch, beneath every stone, clambering over rocks and swimming across ditches, squeaking and hissing, playing and arguing and making birch leaves and fir needles, moss and grass rustle and bend incessantly. They were adorable creatures, their amusing bodies and colourful clothes contrasting with the otherwise stern northern nature.

Precisely the area of Jokkmokk, with its many lakes, afforded me rich opportunity to conclude that Brehm, who had encountered lemmings in great numbers in the year of 1860 at Dovrefield in Norway, and generally correctly recorded their activities and habits, was very mistaken with the opinion, "they avoid the water with a sure shyness." On the contrary, I saw many animals occupying themselves between fallen tree trunks on Lake Baikijoure, and there was no pressure or sign of any shyness or discomfort when clambering on stones by the edge of the shore, to spend a while there looking round in all directions and finally, with a small splash, to slide into the water, in which they could certainly swim energetically and capably for 10 to 15 minutes. And then they turned and swam, in best mood and without any concerns regarding absent air or reluctance, back to the shore where they shook the water from their fur and rested for a while. Such bouts of swimming were repeated by a number of them, and one of the animals, which was particularly noticeable to me, swam no less than four times in this manner into the lake and back, and this within a bit less than an hour. The whole bearing of this swimming let it be clearly recognised that it was not as if it were attempting to get to some distant, unobvious objective beyond the reach of its stamina. And as for "planless attempts from confusion" perhaps undertaken through the need and pressure to escape from its threatened demise, this was also nothing of the kind. It was undoubtedly much more for the joy of it and the attraction of the cooling element that entices them to swim, and the mode and manner in which their encounters in the water gave rise to squeaking calls, it all looked like play and jokes than anything such as bad mood or argument. With the famous migrations of lemmings, during which they are said to dive into roaring rivers and lakes, these swimming parties had naturally absolutely no connection. And this also appeared to play no role in the lively movements of the animals hither and thither, which did not seem to me to result from their dense population numbers or shock from some kind of danger or unusual circumstance, but rather it looked to be a matter of the general liveliness and agility of the species, as is indeed characteristic for other rodents.

However, I have no need to concern myself about the sense and objectives, or to explore the reasons or origins of these aquatic and other games of the lemmings as, if I may express myself so, I could not care less. I am but an animal lover, with no relevance for natural science, and I am satisfied enough with the enchantment I was filled with by seeing the activities of these hearty creatures, both "on water and land". And as I sent myself off on a new Lapland journey last summer (1908), it was a special pleasure, even in advance, to know that I could see them again.

But this further pleasure was not granted to me. All the thousand fold overflow of life had disappeared and been dulled, as if by evil magic! Of the millions that had played with such joy and so amusingly in the previous years, in overexcited pleasure of existence, it appeared that not one, absolutely not one, remained. As far as I pressed into the polar circle, which was beyond the 68th degree, I saw neither on meadow grounds nor in the forests, neither in high plains of in lowlands, or at the river courses or around the lakes, even just a single one of these lovely, delightful creatures. Only in the bay of Saltdnokte on the large Luleälf, not far from the glorious, great sea fall, did I catch sight of a number of their small, dead bodies in the sand that had been washed up by the tide. And as far as I asked any Lapps and hunters, the fishermen and farmers, the pastors and official:- none of them had seen a lemming in that summer or any trace of one!

A strange and mysterious affair, then scientific research has not yet been able to fully enlighten us as to the sudden appearance, and just as sudden disappearance of such enormous numbers. Authors of the 16th century had already attempted to provide explanations based on migrations of lemmings. And the authority, Linnaeus, although he does not appear to have ever seen wandering lemmings for himself, included this migration as "cast iron" into the literature. Naturally, I have attempted to enquire about further details. But I had to learn from experience, as had previously been the case for Brehm in Norway; that the people, Swedes as well as Lapps, educated or uneducated, even in Jokkmokk, where the departure of millions could not, as one must assume, possibly remain unnoticed, knew nothing in the least of any migrations. The conservator in Njuonjes, Erik Holmbom, who is know to many of our zoologists as being the most knowledgeable and careful observer of the animal world in these thinly inhabited areas, whom I sought out from Kuikkjokk, could also give me no information about them. And so I tend to the opinion that the migrations of lemmings in such monstrous masses "like the locusts", or "they collect together like swallows", and then proceed in such hordes "with thousands following one behind another" so that "the boats of the fishermen in the Bottnischen Bay are often sunk because they are so overfilled by them" -and however else the imaginative reports may be phrased- are to be placed in the field of fables. What knowledgeable researchers of the present day have to say sounds completely different. For example, Dr Hamberg, the excellent manager of the natural scientific investigations in the Sarek area of Swedish Lapland, did report about such a procession of lemmings composed of "about 100 animals wandering up the Barte glacier". And even had that been some number of hundreds of animals, then it would still be a long way from the migrations which give rise to such wonderful tales as that in the Illustrated London News of 29th February 1908, and looks most pleasing with its large picture, the "truth" of which is already called somewhat into doubt by the two great birds of prey sitting high up on the cliffs above the fantastic polar landscape as, without any doubt whatsoever -these are South American Caracara falcons.

But whether such migrations occur in large or small numbers or not, two causes which have often, up till now, been cited to account for them are hardly credible. Brehm already held the view, and he was not certain that such migrations actually take place, that a reason could be "as with other voles, there most also be periodic shortages of food". However, who ever has seen the vegetation in the area in which lemmings can be found in such enormous quantities, the absolutely inexhaustible excess of birch and willow bark, the grass, lichen and moss, could be left in no doubt for even a moment that a much greater number of animals, even than found in a 'lemming year', could feed itself in this region. Despite the mighty hordes in, for example, Jokkmokk, there was as good as nothing noticeable of damage to the plants. Also their tolerance of one another, their biting character cannot, as has previously been assumed, be counted as a cause and drive for such migrations. Then even when exceptionally populous, with the animals living densely together, such as was the case at Jokkmokk, I noticed no great sign of intolerance than that which occurs for other rodents of a lively and easily excitable temperament. They hissed at each other if they happened to cross paths, and looked very angry and annoyed. But it did not go beyond a grimace. I never saw them bite one another, let alone a chase; on the contrary, they tolerated close neighbours very well. And if there really should be migrations of lemmings in great numbers*, then science must look for other causes to account for them.

* Remarks of the editor:
We are very grateful for the numerous reports we have received from Swedish members concerning the great migration of lemmings last year, which we will later bring together in a special article.

An index of more of my translations of old Kosmos articles can be found at:

Kosmos Translations Archive

A number of Mesozoic (and post-Mesozoic) location summaries can be found at Localities.