Larry is an elderly lemming who has seen several generations of youngsters come and, sadly, go. We asked him what he thought of the blight striking at the young of his species.

"What?" he stated. "You'll have to speak up. My hearing isn't the best these days."

He continued on to enumerate several medically undesirable aspects of old age.

"I wouldn't mind losing my memory so much," he droned, "if it weren't for the fact that I keep forgetting I'm losing it. So I never get a chance to get used to it, or if I do I can't remember."

His back also hurts, he says, particularly when he is lying down, standing up, or sitting.

We talked to several other elderly lemmings, searching for anyone who could shed light on why their young feel compelled to dive into the ocean and prematurely end their promising lives. But none of those we interviewed were particularly cooperative, preferring to talk constantly about the decrepit state of their bodies and their troubles in the lavatory.

So the mystery remains.

The sea at last! Lemming diving from cliff makes a discovery that will change its life.