Difference between revisions of "AY Honors/Small Mammal Pets/Answer Key"

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{{Taxobox
 
{{Taxobox
 
| color = pink
 
| color = pink
| name = Syrian or Golden Hamster
+
| name = Dwarf Winter White Russian Hamster
| status = EN
+
| image = Phodopus_sungorus2.jpg
| status_system = iucn2.3
 
| image = Golden_hamster_front_1.jpg
 
 
| image_width = 250px
 
| image_width = 250px
 
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
 
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
 
| phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]]
 
| phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]]
| subphylum = [[Vertebrate|Vertebrata]]
 
 
| classis = [[Mammal]]ia
 
| classis = [[Mammal]]ia
| ordo = [[Rodent]]ia
+
| ordo = [[Rodentia]]
 
| subordo = [[Myomorpha]]
 
| subordo = [[Myomorpha]]
 
| superfamilia = [[Muroidea]]
 
| superfamilia = [[Muroidea]]
 
| familia = [[Cricetidae]]
 
| familia = [[Cricetidae]]
 
| subfamilia = [[Cricetinae]]
 
| subfamilia = [[Cricetinae]]
| genus = ''[[Mesocricetus]]''
+
| genus = ''[[Phodopus]]''
| species = '''''M. auratus'''''
+
| species = '''''P. sungorus'''''
| binomial = ''Mesocricetus auratus''
+
| binomial = ''Phodopus sungorus''
| binomial_authority = [[George Robert Waterhouse|Waterhouse]], 1839
+
| subdivision_ranks = Subspecies
 +
| subdivision =
 +
''Phodopus sungorus sungorus''
 +
(see text)
 
}}
 
}}
 +
'''Winter White Russian hamsters''' are a species of [[hamster]] in the genus ''[[Phodopus]]''.  They are typically half the size of the better-known [[Syrian hamster]], and therefore called dwarf hamsters along with all ''Phodopus'' species. Features include a typically dark gray dorsal stripe and furry feet. The tail is so short that it hardly shows when the hamster is sitting. As winter approaches and the days get shorter, Winter Whites' dark fur greys until it is almost completely white (hence the name). In the wild, this adaptation helps them evade predators in the snow covered Steppes of winter. They live mainly in [[Siberia]] and are also found in [[Dzungaria]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Mongolia]] and [[Manchuria]].
  
The '''Syrian Hamster''' or '''Golden Hamster''', ''Mesocricetus auratus'', is the best known member of the [[rodent]] [[subfamily]] [[Cricetinae]], the [[hamster]]s.  In the wild they are now considered endangered <ref>{{IUCN2006|assessors=Baillie|year=1996|id=13219|title=Mesocricetus auratus|downloaded=09 May 2006}} Listed as Endangered (EN B1+2c v2.3)</ref>, but are popular as housepets and scientific research animals.  Adults grow from 5 to 7 inches (12.5 to 17.5 cm ) in length, and will usually have a lifespan of 2 to 3 years.
+
Up until recently, it was debated whether the Winter White hamster was a [[sub-species]] of the [[Campbell's dwarf hamster|Campbell's]] (''Phodopus campbelli'') or not; however, it has now been proven that the Winter whites are of their own species, ''Phodopus sungorus''.
  
==Biology==
+
==Winter White Russian hamsters as pets==
 +
They are often found on the [[pet]] market, in [[Europe]] and [[Asia]] more so than in the [[United States|U.S.]]. They are rarely found in pet stores in Canada. Care is similar to that of the Campbell's [[hamster]]. Winter White hamsters generally make excellent pets.  However, a larger Syrian [[hamster]] would be more suitable for younger children as they can be handled more clumsily. Winter White hamsters should not be fed food containing sources of [[monosaccharide]]s because of the risk of developing [[diabetes mellitus]].
  
Like most members of the subfamily, the Syrian Hamster has expandable cheek pouches, which extend from its cheeks to its shoulders.  In the wild, hamsters are [[larder hoarding|larder hoarders]]; they use their cheek pouches to transport food to their burrows. Their name in the local [[Arabic language|Arabic]] dialect where they were found translates to "father of saddlebags" due to the remarkable amount of storage space in their cheek pouches.  If food is plentiful, they will store it in large amounts--it has been reported that 25 kg of grain was found in the burrow of a single hamster.
+
Winter Whites, other than their close relatives, the Campbell's, often cannot be housed together in groups. Although quite some pet owners report that their winter white hamsters enjoy each others company, it is much more common that --after reaching sexual maturity--, they start fighting violently, causing serious injury to each other. Hence, it is usually (though not undisputedly) recommended to keep them solitary. Although if two females are introduced at a young age they will live happily together.
 
 
[[Image:Hamst08082002.JPG|thumb|left|Syrian hamster filling its cheek pouches with dandelion leaves.]]
 
Sexually mature female hamsters come into season ([[oestrus]]) every four days. Putting a male and female hamster together when the female is not in heat may result in the female attacking the male.  Syrian Hamsters have the shortest gestation period in any known mammal at only 16 to 18 days.  They can produce large litters of 20 or more young, although the average litter size is 8.  If a mother hamster is inexperienced or feels threatened, she may abandon or even cannibalise her pups. It is inadvisable for inexperienced owners to breed them.
 
  
Most hamsters in American and British 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 original coloration (also known as agouti).  Other-colored short-hairs are banded under the label ''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.  They are also sometimes known as "angora hamsters".  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 were originally selectively bred for their larger size and more docile nature as well as their color. However, in current stock, this may or may not still be the case.  
+
In general, dwarf hamsters typically have more of a family structure than the Syrian hamsterDwarf hamsters will happily live in mated pairs, with both male and female caring for the young, but some report that same-sex pairs and larger groups will rarely get along well, as they wouldn't live together like that in nature. Frequent fighting may occur and be a great distress for them, or even lead to deadly incidents. This is in contrast to the Campbell's species and remains an item of dispute among hamster owners.
  
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 are notoriously territorial, however.  Even tame Syrian Hamsters will frequently attack and, indeed, kill, other adult hamsters. When kept as pets, Syrians must be housed in single sex groups after the age of six weeks, and housed individually by the time they are ten weeks old.
+
Winter White hamsters used to be only available in their typical brown/black "normal" color, but they are now available in a variety of colors. Colors include at least normal (dark gray/brown), pearl normal, sapphire and pearl sapphire variations. However, these colors may be difficult to find, and the number of available colors is much smaller than in the dwarf Campbell's hamster.
  
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 pattern]]s that are readily observed, including scent-marking. They are particularly used in airway and respiratory physiology research.
+
Winter White hamsters, also called Siberian hamsters, come from the steppes of Siberia and Kazakhstan and possess an adaptation not seen in Campbell's; they can moult into a white winter coat.  This camouflages them against the snow and also gives them their name.
 +
This moulting is brought on by the amount of sunlight, if the hamster is kept in a dark environment, they will change into their "winter" coat.
 +
When in the winter coat, Winter Whites will become infertile.
  
== Discovery ==
+
[[Image:Phodopus_sungorus.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Dwarf Winter White Russian Hamster, normal color]]
  
[[Image:hamster.jpg|thumb|right|dark-eared white hamster]]
+
== External links ==
In [[1839]] [[Britain|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.
 
  
In 1930, [[Israel Aharoni]], a zoologist and professor at the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]], captured a mother hamster and her litter of babies in the [[Syria|Syrian]] desert. By the time he got back to his lab, most had died or escaped. The remaining three hamsters were given to his university, where they were successfully bred. Because they were a bit bigger than the ones Waterhouse found, they were named ''Mesocricetus auratus''. ''Mesocricetus auratus'' is the currently accepted scientific name of the Syrian Hamster.
+
*[http://www.hamster-heaven.com Hamster Heaven]
 +
*[http://www.xander.it/video.htm Xander.it] - Winter White video gallery
 +
*[http://www.hamster-care.com/russian_dwarf_hamster.html russian dwarf info]
 +
*[http://www.petwebsite.com/hamsters/dwarf_winter_white_russian_hamsters.htm PetWebSite pages on Winter Whites]
 +
*[http://www.furrycritters.co.uk FurryCritters]
  
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 reached the United States in 1938.  Soon after their initial discovery, they were found to make great pets.  Just about all captive Syrian Hamsters today 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 is not known if any of today's North American pets are descended from them.
 
 
==Surviving in the wild==
 
In the beginning of the 20th century, the Syrian golden hamster was considered as being extinct in the wild by unknown reason until Professor Aharoni of Jerusalem Hebraic University collected one female and her 12 broods in [[Aleppo]].<ref name="Hochman"> Hochman B, Ferreira LM, Vilas Bôas FC, Mariano M. Experimental model in hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) to study heterologous graft of scars and cutaneous diseases in plastic surgery. Acta Cir Bras [serial online] 2004 Vol 19 Special Edition. [http://www.scielo.br/pdf/acb/v19s1/v19s1a12.pdf Online pdf]</ref> After that some later sightings and captures were reported. Since the 1980s this species was not seen anymore in the wild, until two expeditions were carried out during September [[1997]] and March [[1999]] to confirm the current existence of the wild golden hamster in northern [[Syria]]. The researchers mapped 30 burrows. None of the inhabited burrows contained more than one adult. They caught six females and seven males. One female was pregnant and gave birth to six pups. All these 19 caught wild golden hamsters, together with three wild individuals from the University of Aleppo, were shipped to [[Germany]] to form a new breeding stock.<ref name="Gattermann">Gattermann et al. 2001. Notes on the current distribution and the ecology of wild golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). Journal of Zoology, 254: 359-365 (Cambridge University Press). [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=78463 Online abstract]</ref>
 
 
==Gallery==
 
<gallery>
 
Image:100_983.jpg|A Golden Hamster
 
Image:Golden_hamster_side_1.jpg|Golden Hamster
 
image:Jan2306_122.jpg|male teddy bear hamster
 
</gallery>
 
 
==See also==
 
*[[Hamster]]
 
 
==References==
 
<references/>
 
 
==External links==
 
*[http://www.syrianhamster.com Syrian Hamster]
 
*[http://www.hamster-heaven.com Hamster Heaven]
 
*[http://www.hamsterific.com Hamsterific.com]
 
*[http://www.hamster-care.com/breeds.html Syrian Hamsters] - Syrian Hamsters and other breeds
 
*[http://www.xander.it/video.htm Xander.it] - Video collection of Syrian hamsters (page is in Italian)
 
*[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=10036&lvl=3&keep=1&srchmode=1&unlock Genome information]
 
*[http://www.petwebsite.com/hamsters/syrian_hamsters.htm Petwebsite Entry on Syrians]
 
*[http://hometown.aol.com/TheRiverRd/ The River Road Hamstery]- Very good information on hamster breeding, especially for coat types
 
*[http://www.hamsoc.org.uk/varieties.php The Hamster Society]
 
*[http://www.razthehamster.com/gallery RaztheHamster] - Syrian Hamster Gallery
 
  
 +
[[Category:Hamsters]]
 
[[Category:Animals kept as pets]]
 
[[Category:Animals kept as pets]]
[[Category:Hamsters]]
 
[[Category:Mammals of Asia]]
 
  
[[bg:Златист хамстер]]
+
[[de:Dsungarischer Zwerghamster]]
[[de:Goldhamster]]
+
[[es:Phodopus sungorus]]
[[fr:Hamster doré]]
+
[[fr:Hamster russe]]
[[it:Mesocricetus auratus]]
+
[[it:Phodopus sungorus]]
[[he:אוגר זהוב]]
+
[[he:אוגר סיבירי]]
[[nl:Goudhamster]]
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[[nl:Russische dwerghamster]]
[[ja:ゴールデンハムスター]]
+
[[ja:ジャンガリアンハムスター]]
[[pl:Chomik syryjski]]
+
[[pl:Chomik dżungarski]]
[[fi:Kultahamsteri]]
+
[[fi:Venäjänkääpiöhamsteri]]
[[sv:Guldhamster]]
+
[[zh:短尾侏儒倉鼠]]
[[zh:敘利亞倉鼠]]
 

Revision as of 09:34, 14 November 2006

Template:Taxobox Winter White Russian hamsters are a species of hamster in the genus Phodopus. They are typically half the size of the better-known Syrian hamster, and therefore called dwarf hamsters along with all Phodopus species. Features include a typically dark gray dorsal stripe and furry feet. The tail is so short that it hardly shows when the hamster is sitting. As winter approaches and the days get shorter, Winter Whites' dark fur greys until it is almost completely white (hence the name). In the wild, this adaptation helps them evade predators in the snow covered Steppes of winter. They live mainly in Siberia and are also found in Dzungaria, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Manchuria.

Up until recently, it was debated whether the Winter White hamster was a sub-species of the Campbell's (Phodopus campbelli) or not; however, it has now been proven that the Winter whites are of their own species, Phodopus sungorus.

Winter White Russian hamsters as pets

They are often found on the pet market, in Europe and Asia more so than in the U.S.. They are rarely found in pet stores in Canada. Care is similar to that of the Campbell's hamster. Winter White hamsters generally make excellent pets. However, a larger Syrian hamster would be more suitable for younger children as they can be handled more clumsily. Winter White hamsters should not be fed food containing sources of monosaccharides because of the risk of developing diabetes mellitus.

Winter Whites, other than their close relatives, the Campbell's, often cannot be housed together in groups. Although quite some pet owners report that their winter white hamsters enjoy each others company, it is much more common that --after reaching sexual maturity--, they start fighting violently, causing serious injury to each other. Hence, it is usually (though not undisputedly) recommended to keep them solitary. Although if two females are introduced at a young age they will live happily together.

In general, dwarf hamsters typically have more of a family structure than the Syrian hamster. Dwarf hamsters will happily live in mated pairs, with both male and female caring for the young, but some report that same-sex pairs and larger groups will rarely get along well, as they wouldn't live together like that in nature. Frequent fighting may occur and be a great distress for them, or even lead to deadly incidents. This is in contrast to the Campbell's species and remains an item of dispute among hamster owners.

Winter White hamsters used to be only available in their typical brown/black "normal" color, but they are now available in a variety of colors. Colors include at least normal (dark gray/brown), pearl normal, sapphire and pearl sapphire variations. However, these colors may be difficult to find, and the number of available colors is much smaller than in the dwarf Campbell's hamster.

Winter White hamsters, also called Siberian hamsters, come from the steppes of Siberia and Kazakhstan and possess an adaptation not seen in Campbell's; they can moult into a white winter coat. This camouflages them against the snow and also gives them their name. This moulting is brought on by the amount of sunlight, if the hamster is kept in a dark environment, they will change into their "winter" coat. When in the winter coat, Winter Whites will become infertile.

Dwarf Winter White Russian Hamster, normal color

External links

de:Dsungarischer Zwerghamster es:Phodopus sungorus fr:Hamster russe it:Phodopus sungorus he:אוגר סיבירי nl:Russische dwerghamster ja:ジャンガリアンハムスター pl:Chomik dżungarski fi:Venäjänkääpiöhamsteri zh:短尾侏儒倉鼠