Lakeland Wildlife Oasis Lemmings in UK Zoos

Which species were they? (I assume steppe?) That is super cool! I remember seeing some at Mayfield Alpacas animal park (before they moved to their temporary site):)
 
pangolin12 said:
Which species were they? (I assume steppe?) That is super cool! I remember seeing some at Mayfield Alpacas animal park (before they moved to their temporary site):)
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Yeah Steppe Lemmings. I remember there being degus in the enclosure previously so was really surprised
 
ZooNut23 said:
Went to Wildlife Oasis today and they had lemmings! As a big fan of the computer game this was very exciting for me but sadly I was unable to see one on my visit. I was wondering why UK zoos have only rarely kept lemmings.
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Steppe Lemmings are very common, highly productive and often kept as a 'feeder' species.
 
I had no idea about this until I saw this thread, the zoo usually announces new species on their Facebook page, but I haven't seen any posts about the lemmings. I'll have to get back down there soon and see them.
 
Looking on Zootierliste it seems just about the only lemming species held in zoos are Steppe Lemmings. I am not sure why, but I suspect as lemmings are mostly classed as Least Concern and have short lifespans it is simply not worthwhile to expend the effort to maintain viable populations, much as for other small rodents. Given the potential threat of global warming to arctic animals this may be a bit shortsighted. Some lemmings are also surprisingly aggressive - apparently Norway lemmings have even threatened humans!
 
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