Northern collared lemming

Northern collared lemming
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Cricetidae
Subfamily:	Arvicolinae
Genus:	Dicrostonyx
Species:	D. groenlandicus
Binomial name
Dicrostonyx groenlandicus (Traill, 1823)
Northern collared lemming range (not including the Wrangel lemming)[1]
Synonyms
kilangmiutak Anderson & Rand, 1945 rubricatus (Richardson, 1889) vinogradovi Ognev, 1948

The northern collared lemming or Nearctic collared lemming (Dicrostonyx groenlandicus), sometimes called the Peary Land collared lemming in Canada, is a small lemming found in Arctic North America and Wrangel Island. At one time, it was considered to be a subspecies of the Arctic lemming (Dicrostonyx torquatus). Some sources believe several other species of collared lemmings found in North America are actually subspecies of D. groenlandicus.^[2]

It has a short chunky body covered with thick grey fur with a thin black stripe along its back and light grey underparts.^{[citation needed]} It has small ears, short legs and a very short tail.^{[citation needed]} It has a pale brown collar across its chest.^{[citation needed]} In winter, its fur turns white, and it has large digging claws on its front feet.^{[citation needed]} It is 14 cm (5.5 in) long with a 1.5 cm (0.59 in) tail and weighs about 40 g (1 oz).^{[citation needed]}

It is found in the tundra of northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland. A disjunct population is also present on Wrangel Island in Siberia; this population was formerly considered its own species, the Wrangel lemming (D. vinogradovi).^[3][4][5]

It feeds on grasses, sedges and other green vegetation in summer, and twigs of willow, aspen and birches in winter.^{[citation needed]}

Predators include snowy owls, gulls, wolverines, the Arctic fox and the polar bear.^{[citation needed]}

Female lemmings have two or three litters of four to eight young in a year. The young are born in a nest in a burrow or concealed in vegetation.^{[citation needed]}

It is active year-round, day and night.^{[citation needed]} It makes runways through the surface vegetation and also digs burrows above the permafrost.^{[citation needed]} It burrows under the snow in winter.^{[citation needed]} Lemming populations go through a three- or four-year cycle of boom and bust.^{[citation needed]} When their population peaks, lemmings disperse from overcrowded areas.^{[citation needed]}