AY Honors/Small Mammal Pets/Answer Key

The Syrian Hamster or Golden Hamster, Mesocricetus auratus, is the best known member of the rodent subfamily Cricetinae, the hamsters. They may now be extinct in nature, but are popular as house pets all across the world, and are also used in scientific research. Adults grow from 12.5 to 17.5 cm (5 to 7 inches) in length, and in captivity will usually live from 2 to 3 years.

Biology

Like most members of the subfamily, the Golden Hamster has expandable cheek pouches, which reach from its cheeks to its shoulders. In the wild, hamsters are larder hoarders, and they use their cheek pouches to transport food to their burrows. They can load a remarkable amount of food into their pouches; their name in the local Arabic dialect in the area where they are found translates as "father of saddlebags" أبو جراب. If food is plentiful, they will store it in large amounts, and it has been reported that 25 kg of grain was found in the burrow of a single hamster. They are notoriously good at reproducing, with the shortest gestation period of any mammal.

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male teddy bear hamster

Most hamsters in American and English pet stores are Syrian Hamsters. Originally, Syrian Hamsters came in just one color--the mixture of brown, black, and gold which gave them their "Golden" name--but they have since developed a myriad of color mutations such as cream, white, blonde, banded, tortoiseshell, calico, and sable. Therefore in pet stores today, Golden Hamster is only used to label the orginal coloration (also known as "agouti), while the other-colored short-hairs are banded under the lable Fancy Hamster. Teddy Bear is a term used to describe the long-haired variety of the Syrian Hamster, named so for their remarkable resemblance to toy teddy bears. Male teddy bear hamsters usually have much longer fur than the female variety, culminating in a "skirt" of longer fur around their backsides. Black Bears are a recent off-shoot of teddy bear hamsters (mutation discovered in 1985), with their major difference being their black-colored fur. It can be argued that black bears are just black teddy bears rather than their own breed; on the other hand, black bears are selectively bred for their larger size and more docile nature as well as their color.

Syrian Hamsters are wildly popular as housepets due to their docile, inquisitive natures and small size. They are popular as "first pets" for young children, as well as being classroom animals, because of their hardiness and relative ease of care. Some pet owners find them more attractive in relation to rats and other rodents due to their lack of visible tails.

Syrian Hamsters have also been used in scientific research--in the study of many diseases, as well as in the study of behaviour. They have a number of fixed action patterns that are readily observed, including scent-marking. They are particularly used in airway and respiratory physiology research.

Discovery

albino golden hamster

In 1839 British zoologist George Robert Waterhouse reportedly found an elderly female hamster in Syria, naming it Cricetus auratus, the Golden Hamster. The hamster's fur was on display at the British Museum (Natural History). The Syrian Hamster was then ignored by European science for the next century. Around 1930, zoologist and Professor at the University of Jerusalem Israel Aharoni found a mother and litter of hamsters in the Syrian desert. By the time he got back to his lab, most had died or escaped. The remaining hamsters were given to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where they were successfully bred. They were a bit bigger than the ones Waterhouse found, so they were named Mesocricetus auratus, although they were probably the same species. Mesocricetus auratus is the currently accepted scientific name of Syrian Hamsters.

Descendants of these hamsters were shipped to scientific labs around the world, for use as research animals. They arrived in the United Kingdom in 1931, and in 1938 reached the United States. Soon after their initial discovery, they were found to make great pets. Just about all Golden Hamsters are descended from the original litter found in Syria, except for a few that were brought into the United States by travellers who found them in the desert. A separate stock of hamsters was imported into the US in 1971, but it isn't known if any of today's North American pets are descended from them.

See also

• Hamster

External links

• Xander.it - Golden hamsters video collection
• Genome information
• Pictures of a Syrian or golden hamster
• Spoof hamster website
• Furry Critters