• trash80@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 months ago

    Misconceptions about lemmings go back many centuries. In 1532, the geographer Jacob Ziegler of Bavaria proposed the theory that the creatures fell out of the sky during stormy weather[9][10] and then died suddenly when the grass grew in spring.[11] This description was contradicted by natural historian Ole Worm, who accepted that lemmings could fall out of the sky, but claimed that they had been brought over by the wind rather than created by spontaneous generation.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemming#Misconceptions

    what the fuck

    • ThatOneKirbyMain2568@kbin.social
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      11 months ago

      In 1532, the geographer Jacob Ziegler of Bavaria proposed the theory that the creatures fell out of the sky during stormy weather and then died suddenly when the grass grew in spring.

      lol, that’s dumb

      This description was contradicted by natural historian Ole Worm, …

      well duh, of course people thought that was stupi—

      … who accepted that lemmings could fall out of the sky, but claimed that they had been brought over by the wind rather than created by spontaneous generation.

      oh

  • trash80@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 months ago

    The misconception itself is much older, dating back to at least the late 19th century. In the August 1877 issue of Popular Science Monthly, apparently suicidal lemmings are presumed to be swimming the Atlantic Ocean in search of the submerged continent of Lemuria.[13]
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemming#Misconceptions

    Good grief. I think I need to lie down.

      • GreyShuck@feddit.uk
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        11 months ago

        No. Perhaps because when I get paid to write about science, I don’t use grammar like that.