Lemmings

Folks wanted lemmings jumping over cliffs so that's what I gave them. I'm a film maker, not a schoolteacher.

- James Algar, Director of White Wilderness

White Wilderness, a 1958 Disney nature documentary, won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. It is now best remembered for propagating the myth that Lemmings commit mass suicide by hurling themselves from cliffs. The film's narrator, to be scrupulously fair, does not actually say this, but that's how people who already 'know' the myth remember it.

You can drop a mouse down a thousand-yard mine shaft and, on arriving at the bottom, it gets a slight shock and walks away.

- J.B.S Haldane, On Being the Right Size

Perhaps we should adjust the myth so that Lemmings commit mass suicide by paracetamol overdose. It would at least kill them and would explain the occasional sightings of lemmings in pharmaceutical retailers.

Bob McKeown, the host of [The Fifth Estate], found that the lemming scene was filmed at the Bow River near downtown Calgary and not at the Arctic Ocean as implied by the film. He found out that the lemmings did not voluntarily jump into the river but were pushed in by a rotating platform installed by the film crew. He also interviewed a lemming expert who claimed that the particular species of lemming shown in the film is not known to migrate, much less commit mass suicide.

- Good old Wiki

Actual migrations do not occur, although some lemmings may move into marginal or unsuitable areas during periods of population increase. This probably explains occasional sightings of lemmings on sea ice well beyond land.

- Paul Whitney, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, 1994

White Wilderness: Disney's ode to life in the north. Will become notorious when the fifth estate reveals in 1982 that a scene showing lemmings jumping to their deaths was actually staged. The lemmings, it turns out, were thrown into the river by a member of the film crew. The Disney documentary promotes the idea that lemmings commit suicide, which is not true.

- CBC

Of course, a national treasure like Sir David Attenborough would never stoop to such trickery.

Blue Planet: The acclaimed BBC documentary, narrated by Sir David Attenborough is accused of using deceptive techniques when it included a lobster spawning scene that was filmed in a British aquarium. Viewers were led to believe the scene was taking place off the coast of Nova Scotia.

Well, okay, maybe just the once?

Polar Bear, Arctic Warrior: In the most memorable scene of Sir David Attenborough's documentary, a mother bear is filmed giving birth to and snuggling with her newborn cub. Viewers are led to believe the scene is actually taking place in the Arctic. In fact it was filmed in a zoo in Frankfurt, Germany.

But certainly not any more?

Sir David Attenborough is accused of staging a confrontation between himself and a cobra in a South African desert for his new BBC series, Life in Cold Blood.

But surely documentaries tell the truth? Surely there haven't been frequent cases where trained animals were filmed in a wild setting under the pretense that they were wild animals? Surely animals haven't been trucked from their homes to a more suitable filming location? Surely there's no such thing as CGI? Surely there's no such thing as Meerkat Manor?

Do documentary watchers really mistake entertainment for education?

- AlbertF, Jew of this parish