Hamsters (Hamster) were discovered in 1829 in a city near Siberia, they belong to the rodent (Rodent), the scientific name Rodentia, from the Latin bite (gnawing), meaning that the teeth continue to grow and need to be constantly grinding. Hamsters like to hide things in two cheeks when eating, and then take them out to eat in a safe place when they have the opportunity, so they are named hamsters, and some people call hamsters big-cheeked rats. Hamster, the origin of the name is from the German: hamstern, meaning storage.
At present, most of the hamsters raised by everyone belong to the pygmy hamsters and Syrian hamsters.
Native to Syria, Lebanon, and Israel, the Syrian Hamster was introduced to the United States in 1938 before officially becoming a pet. Among the other dwarf hamsters are the Dwarf Campbells Russian Hamster, native to eastern Lake Baikal, Mongolia, Heilongjiang Province, Hebei Province, and Inner Mongolia;
The Dwarf Winter White Russian Hamster is native to eastern Kazakhstan and southwestern Siberia.
Roborovski Hamster is native to Russia, Kazakhstan, Uyghur Xinjiang, and southwestern Mongolia.
【Introduction】
Hamster is a general term for the hamster subfamily. There are a total of 7 genera and 18 species, mainly distributed in Asia, a few distributed in Europe, of which China has three genera and eight species. In addition to the small hamsters distributed in Central Asia, other types of hamsters have buccal sacs on both cheeks, extending from the side of the molars to the shoulders, which can be used to temporarily store or carry food back to the hole for storage, so the name hamster, also known as the gill rat, moving hamster. It cleans the hair frequently.
Hamsters have a pair of growing front teeth, three pairs of molars, tooth type: 1003, in a staggered triangular arrangement. Molars have root teeth, or do not have root teeth and can grow for life. The various animals in this family are basically small and medium-sized rodents. The body length is between 5 and 28 cm, and the weight is 30 to 1000 grams. The body is short and thick, the tail is short, generally not more than half the body length, and some varieties do not exceed half the length of the hind legs, and even basically cannot be seen. The main food is plant seeds, which like to eat nuts, also eat young stems or leaves of plants, and occasionally eat small insects. Most do not hibernate and live on storing food in winter. A small number of species enter a less active quasi-hibernation state in cold weather conditions. Hamsters are mainly active at night, have poor vision, can only blur the shape, and the color can only distinguish black and white. The coat color is complex. Some breeds of hamsters have become popular pets in recent years because of their closeness to people, such as Syrian hamsters, Gacaria hamsters, Campbell hamsters and Robrov hamsters.
【Scientific Classification】
Boundaries: Animal kingdom Animalia Phylum: Chordata: Mammalia: Rodents Rodentia: Hamsteridae Cricetidae Subfamily: Hamster subfamily Cricetinae
【Variety Classification】
Hamster family consists of seven genera and eighteen species, which can be divided into:
Short-eared hamster genus
Mongolian hamster (Allocricetulus curtatus)
Kazakh hamster (Allocricetulus eversmanni)
Gansu hamster genus
Gansu hamster (Cansumys canus)
Hamster genus
Tibetan pygmy hamster (Cricetulus alticola)
Haddock (Cricetulus barabensis)
Chinese Hamster (Cricetulus griseus)
Tibetan hamster (Cricetulus kamensis)
Long-tailed hamster (Cricetulus longicaudatus)
Grey hamster (Cricetulus migratorius)
Pseudo-zoster hamster (Cricetulus pseudogriseus)
Socell's hamster (Cricetulus sokolovi)
European hamster
European Hamster (Cricetus cricetus)
Middle hamster genus
Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus): Also known as the golden rat
Brinell (Mesocricetus brandti)
Romanian Hamster (Mesocricetus newtoni)
Caucasian hamster (Mesocricetus raddei: Ciscaucasian Hamster)
Pygmy hamster: A species of most pet rats in the market
Campbell pygmy hamster (Phodopus campbelli): Commonly known as a first-line rat
Phodopus roborovski: Commonly known as the old male rat
Short-tailed dwarf hamster (Phodopus sungorus): commonly known as the three-lined rat, Siberian hamster, maple leaf rat and so on
subspecies
(Phodopus Campbell Campbell (Thomas, 1905))
（Phodopus campbelli crepidatus Hollister, 1912）
Genus Great Hamster
Korean Hamster (Tscherskia triton)
Hamsters are a genus of hamsters (Cricetidae) that are divided into several categories: Mesocricetus, Cricetulus, Phodopus, and Calomyscus. In general, there are four kinds of pet hamsters that we keep: Chinese hamsters belong to Crictulus (basically extinct in China, raised abroad); Syrian hamsters (commonly known as bears) belong to Microcrativeetus; and Campbell (commonly known as first-line class) Phodopus campbelli
Gacaria (commonly known as the trilinear class) Phodopus sungorus
Roborovsky (commonly known as in-laws) Phodopus roborovskii is a genus of hairy foot Phodopus, so it is also known as the Dwarf Hamster.
[Appearance characteristics] Hamsters are different from mice, they have a very short tail, or even no tail. In addition to the chinese hamster's relatively long tail, other breeds of hamsters only have a tail of less than one centimeter. Pygmy hamsters are 5–12 cm long and their tails are no more than 5 mm long; their feet are covered with foot hairs, and they have the presence of incense glands in the center of their abdomen. The Syrian hamster is 15–20 cm long and the tail is about 1 cm long. The feet are hairless, the hands and feet have flesh pads, and the incense glands are located on each side of the waist and thighs. The cheeks have cheek sacs. The upper and lower jaws each have a pair of sharp incisors. The hamster's way of distinguishing male from female is simple. Male hamsters generally have larger buttocks and long and large ass eyes; female hamsters generally have inverted triangles and small butt eyes. Individuals can see round objects.
【Growth and reproduction】Generally after late spring is more suitable for breeding, 2-3 litters per year, pygmy hamsters per litter average 5-10, Syrian hamsters per litter average more than 10. The average lifespan is 2-3 years. Their lifespan is short, and the three-month-old hamster is an adult. Of course, different breeds of hamsters will have a slightly different length of life. For the age comparison of hamsters, you can refer to the following table:
The next issue details common hamster breeds