Collared Lemmings

Lemmings in the genus Dicrostonyx, which comprises an indeterminate number of species, turn from brown or gray in the warmer months to white when the snows come. (They belong to a different genus than true lemmings, which remain brown.) Strangely, they spend most of their time burrowing beneath the snow, which would seem to render camouflage unnecessary. They even grow special winter claws—really extensions of the toe pads—for digging through the drifts to create nests and reach the stems of the Arctic willows upon which they feed. Their skins were once used by Eskimo peoples as clothing embellishments.