Hamster

Hamsters are small rodents that belong to a group called Cricetinae. They are popular pets, especially the golden or Syrian hamster. Other hamster pets include Campbell's dwarf hamster, the winter white dwarf hamster, the Roborovski hamster, and the Chinese hamster.

Hamsters eat seeds, fruits, plants, and sometimes insects. In the wild, they are most active during twilight—just before sunset or after sunrise. As pets, they are usually awake at night, eating and playing after dark.

These animals have special features, like long cheek pouches that reach up to their shoulders. They use these pouches to carry food to their burrows or underground homes. Hamsters also have short tails and fur-covered feet, which help them move around easily.

Classification

Further information: List of cricetines

Hamsters are small rodents that belong to the subfamily Cricetinae. The most well-known type is the golden or Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus), which is often kept as a pet.

The subfamily Cricetinae is studied by scientists. It can be placed in the family Cricetidae, which includes voles, lemmings, and New World rats and mice. Some scientists put these animals in a larger family called Muridae. There are several types of hamsters, including the Mongolian hamster (A. curtatus), the Chinese hamster (C. griseus), and Campbell's dwarf hamster (P. campbelli).

History

The Syrian hamster, also called the golden hamster, was first described by a scientist in 1839. In 1939, people learned how to keep them as pets. All Syrian hamsters today come from one brother and sister caught in Syria in 1930. They were taken to Jerusalem and had many babies. Some of these hamsters went to the United States and became popular pets and lab animals.

Etymology

The word "hamster" comes from German. It started in an older form of German called Middle High German. In that language, it was hamastra. This word might be linked to words from Russian, like khomyak, or even older Persian words. When we talk about many hamsters together, we call it a "horde". In German, hamstern means "to hoard", which is like saving up lots of things.

Description

Hamsters are small, stout-bodied rodents with short tails, tiny furry ears, and strong legs. Their fur can be many colors, such as black, grey, honey, white, brown, yellow, red, or a mix of these. Some hamsters, like Campbell's dwarf hamster and the Djungarian hamster, have a dark stripe running from their heads to their tails. The smallest hamsters are about 5.5 to 10.5 cm long, while the largest, the European hamster, can be up to 34 cm long.

Hamsters have poor eyesight and cannot see colors well, but they can sense movement and hear sounds clearly, including high-pitched noises. They use their sense of smell to find food, recognize their owners, and mark their territory with special scent glands. Their teeth grow continuously and need regular wear to stay healthy. Hamsters enjoy eating a mix of commercial pet food, fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts.

Behavior

Hamsters like to collect food hoarding. They carry food in their big cheek pouches to special storage spots underground. When their cheeks are full, they can look twice or three times bigger!

Most hamsters like to live alone. If kept together, they may get stressed or fight. But some smaller hamsters might accept siblings or others of the same gender if they meet them early. Hamsters talk to each other and to their owners using smells and body language.

Hamsters are mostly active at dawn and dusk, meaning they are awake when the day is starting or ending. In the wild, Syrian hamsters can hibernate, letting their body temperature drop to save energy in winter. This helps them need less food. But as pets, Syrian hamsters usually do not hibernate.

All hamsters love to dig, making burrows with many rooms for sleeping, storing food, and more. They dig deep tunnels to stay safe from danger and bad weather. Even hamsters in labs love to dig if they can!

Reproduction

Hamsters can start having babies at different ages, depending on the type. Syrian and Russian hamsters can begin at just 4–5 weeks old, while Chinese hamsters start at two to three months, and Roborovskis at three to four months. Female hamsters are ready to mate about every four days.

Syrian hamsters have several babies a year, with one to 13 pups in each group. Dwarf hamsters can have babies all year. The time from when the mother is expecting until the babies are born is called gestation, and this takes from 16 to 30 days, depending on the type of hamster. Syrian hamsters usually have about seven pups, while Campbell's dwarf hamsters have four to eight pups per group.

Hamsters are born without hair and cannot see. After one week, they start exploring outside their nest. They are considered fully grown at three weeks old. Syrian hamsters typically live two to three years when kept as pets, while other types may live a little longer.

Society and culture

Hamsters as pets

The most well-known hamster is the golden or Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus), which is the type most commonly kept as pets. There are many different types of Syrian hamsters, including long-haired varieties and hamsters of different colors. In the United Kingdom, most hamsters come from a group that was brought in for medical research during World War II by a British zoologist named Leonard Goodwin. Hamsters became popular pets in the United States as early as 1942.

Other popular pet hamsters belong to the genus Phodopus. The Campbell's dwarf hamster (Phodopus campbelli) is the most common type. The coat of the winter white dwarf hamster (Phodopus sungorus) turns almost white during winter. The Roborovski hamster (Phodopus roborovskii) is very small and moves quickly, which can make it harder to keep as a pet.

Hamster shows

A hamster show is a fun event where people bring their hamsters to be judged. These shows are also a great way for hamster lovers to meet and share their passion. During the shows, hamsters are judged to see which ones best match the usual types of hamsters.

Hamsters as lab animals

Further information: Laboratory Syrian hamster

Scientists sometimes use hamster cells in their research. They study these cells to learn more about how the body works.

Similar animals

Some rodents that people call "hamsters" are not really hamsters. For example, the maned hamster, also called the crested hamster, is a type of maned rat (Lophiomys imhausi). There are also animals called mouse-like hamsters (Calomyscus spp.) and the white-tailed rat (Mystromys albicaudatus), which are not true hamsters either.