The Ultimate Hamster Quiz

Hamsters: Classification, Relationships, History, Description, Senses, Diet, Behavior, Reproduction

Classification:

• Hamsters belong to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera.
• Taxonomists disagree about the most appropriate placement of the subfamily Cricetinae within the superfamily Muroidea.
• Their evolutionary history is recorded by 15 extinct fossil genera and extends back 11.2 million to 16.4 million years.

Relationships among hamster species:

• Molecular phylogenetic analysis of 12 of the 17 species was conducted using DNA sequence from three genes.
• The genus Phodopus represents the earliest split among hamsters.
• The genus Mesocricetus also forms a clade.
• The remaining genera of hamsters formed a third major clade.
• Allocricetulus and Cricetus were sister taxa.

History:

• Researchers were not able to successfully breed and domesticate hamsters until 1939.
• The entire laboratory and pet populations of Syrian hamsters appear to be descendants of a single brother–sister pairing.
• Comparative studies of domestic and wild Syrian hamsters have shown reduced genetic variability in the domestic strain.

Description:

• Hamsters are typically stout-bodied, with tails shorter than body length, and have small, furry ears, short, stocky legs, and wide feet.
• They have thick, silky fur, which can be long or short, colored black, grey, honey, white, brown, yellow, red, or a mix, depending on the species.
• Hamsters have scent glands on their flanks (and abdomens in Chinese and dwarf hamsters).
• Hamsters have poor eyesight; they are nearsighted and colorblind.

Senses:

• Hamsters can sense movement around at all times.
• Hamsters have scent glands which they rub against the surface beneath them, leaving a scent trail.
• Hamsters catch sounds by having their ears upright.

Diet:

• Hamsters are omnivores, which means they can eat meat and vegetables.
• Hamsters in the Middle East have been known to hunt in packs to find insects for food.
• Hamsters are hindgut fermenters and often eat their own feces (coprophagy) to recover nutrients digested in the hind-gut, but not absorbed.

Behavior:

• A behavioral characteristic of hamsters is food hoarding.
• Most hamsters are strictly solitary.
• Hamsters communicate through body language to one another and even to their owner.
• Hamsters are primarily crepuscular (active mostly at dawn and dusk).

Reproduction:

• Hamsters become fertile at different ages depending on their species.

• Females are in estrus about every four days.

• The breeding season is from April to October in the Northern Hemisphere.

• Female hamsters may even eat their own young if they are disturbed while giving birth.Hamsters: Breeding, Weaning, Longevity, Society and Culture, Owner Activism, and more

• Hamster mothers can be aggressive towards their young if they think they are in danger.

• Female hamsters may cannibalize their litter if left for extended periods with them.

• Hamsters are born hairless and blind in a nest the mother has prepared in advance.

• Hamsters can produce litters every month and can be bred after they are three weeks old.

• Syrian hamsters typically live no more than two to three years in captivity, while the smaller Roborovski hamster can live up to three years in captivity.

• The golden or Syrian hamster is the most commonly kept as a pet, while the three species of dwarf hamster are also popular.

• Hamster shows are events where people gather to judge hamsters against each other based on natural or established varieties of hamsters.

• Activists in Hong Kong mobilized to promote the adoption of abandoned hamsters after a mass cull of all hamsters purchased after December 22, 2021.

• Extracted cells of babies' kidneys and adults' ovaries are used to study cholesterol synthesis.

• Some rodents called "hamsters" are not classified in the hamster subfamily Cricetinae.

• Hamsters are popular pets in the United Kingdom and the United States.

• Leonard Goodwin claimed that most hamsters kept in the UK were descended from the colony he introduced for medical research purposes during the Second World War.