hamster

hamster, (subfamily Cricetinae), any of 18 Eurasian species of rodents possessing internal cheek pouches. The golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) of Syria is commonly kept as a pet. Hamsters are stout-bodied, with a tail much shorter than their body length, and have small furry ears, short stocky legs, and wide feet. Their thick long fur ranges from grayish to reddish brown, depending upon the species; underparts range from white to shades of gray and black. The Dzhungarian hamster (Phodopus sungorus) and the striped dwarf hamster (Cricetulus barabensis) have a dark stripe down the middle of the back. Dwarf desert hamsters (genus Phodopus) are the smallest, with a body 5 to 10 cm (about 2 to 4 inches) long. The largest is the common hamster (Cricetus cricetus), measuring up to 34 cm long, not including a short tail of up to 6 cm.

Hamsters are generally solitary and primarily nocturnal, although they are sometimes active in the early morning or late evening. They do not climb but are excellent diggers, constructing burrows with one or more entrances and with galleries that are connected to chambers for nesting, food storage, and other activities. They also appropriate tunnels made by other mammals; the striped hairy-footed hamster (P. sungorus), for instance, uses paths and burrows of the pika. Their diet consists mostly of grains but also includes fruit, roots, green parts of plants, invertebrates, and other small animals. Hamsters carry food in their spacious cheek pouches to cache in the burrow. None hibernates during winter, but some experience periods of torpor lasting from a few days to several weeks. Breeding season is from April to October, with two to five litters of 1 to 13 young being born after a gestation period of 13 to 22 days.

Hamsters’ northern range extends from central Europe through Siberia, Mongolia, and northern China to Korea. The southern portion of their range stretches from Syria to Pakistan. Throughout dry open country, they inhabit desert borders, vegetated sand dunes, shrubby and rocky foothills and plateaus, river valleys, and mountain steppes; some live among cultivated crops. Geographic distribution varies greatly with species. The common hamster, for example, is found from central Europe to western Siberia and northwestern China, but the golden hamster has been found only near a small town in northwestern Syria. A litter of 10 young golden hamsters was collected by zoologists and taken to Europe during the 1930s. Some of those animals successfully bred with one another, and the population multiplied.

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Classification and evolution

The 7 genera and 18 species of hamsters form the subfamily Cricetinae of the “true” mouse and rat family Muridae within the order Rodentia. Their evolutionary history is recorded by 15 extinct fossil genera and extends back 11.2 million to 16.4 million years to the middle of the Miocene Epoch in Europe and North Africa; in Asia it extends 6 million to 11 million years. Four of the 7 living genera include extinct species. One extinct hamster of Cricetus, for example, lived in North Africa during the middle Miocene, but the only extant member of that genus is the common hamster of Eurasia.

• Subfamily Cricetinae (hamsters)

  18 species in 7 genera.

  • Genus Cricetulus (dwarf, or ratlike, hamsters)

    6 Eurasian species.

  • Genus Mesocricetus (golden hamsters)

    4 European and Middle Eastern species.

  • Genus Phodopus (dwarf desert hamsters)

    3 Asian species.

  • Genus Allocricetulus (Mongolian hamsters)

    2 Asian species.

  • Genus Cansumys (Gansu hamster)

    1 species from northeastern China (Kansu province), known only from 3 specimens collected during the 20th century.

  • Genus Cricetus (black-bellied hamster)

    1 Eurasian species.

  • Genus Tscherskia (greater long-tailed hamster)

    1 eastern Asian species.