Hamsters, also known as gophers, are a generic name for animals in the hamster subfamily (Cricetinae). There are seven genera and eighteen species, mainly distributed in Asia, of which three genera and eight species are distributed in Chinese mainland, and a few species are distributed in Europe. Many species of hamsters are now kept as family pets.
In the wild, hamsters are animals that haunt at dusk and spend most of the day underground to avoid predation. Their main food sources are seeds, fruits and vegetables, and occasionally cave insects.
With the exception of small hamsters found in Central Asia, hamsters of all species have cheek pouches that extend from the side of the molars to the shoulders. It can be used as temporary storage, and can also be used to carry food back to the cave for storage, so it is called hamster, also known as gills and hamsters.
history
Although the British naturalist George Robert Waterhouse first scientifically described the Syrian hamster (golden rat) as early as 1839, it was not until 1939 that researchers successfully bred and domesticated hamsters.
At the time, the entire laboratory hamster appeared to be the offspring of a single pair of siblings/siblings hamsters. The nest of hamsters was captured in 1930 by zoologist Israel Aharoni of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, imported from Aleppo, Syria, and successfully bred in Jerusalem.
Years later, the breeding species was exported to the United States, where it became one of the most popular pets and experimental animals. In comparative studies, domesticated hamsters have relatively few genetic variations. However, differences in behavior, chronobiology, morphometrics, and hematology fall within the expectation of interspecies variation.
appearance
Hamsters are usually stout in body, with a tail shorter than body length, small and hairy ears, short, stout legs, and broad feet. They have thick, silky fur, can be long or short, and come in black, gray, honey, white, brown, yellow, red, or mixed colors, depending on the species.
Hamsters have small whiskers distributed on both cheeks, resembling mice, but with a slightly shorter tail and hiding in the fur. The hamster tail is difficult to see because it is usually not very long, about one-sixth the length of the body, except for the Chinese hamster, which has a tail that is the same length as the body.
The limbs are short, and the forelimbs play the main auxiliary role of feeding.
The back fur is often striped, and the stripe color will deepen as the hamster grows, of course, there are hamsters without striped breeds. There is a sac in the cheek that can store food, and its cheeks are bulging because of its presence.
The upper jaw will have sharp incisors to gnaw. Adult male hamsters weigh between 85 g and 130 g, while female hamsters weigh between 95 g and 150 g. European hamsters can weigh between 250 and 600 grams
sense organ
Hamsters have poor vision, they are all short-sighted and colorblind, and can only distinguish black and white, resulting in hamsters not having a good sense of distance. Despite poor eyesight, this does not stop hamsters from climbing into cages or even from taking risks.
Hamsters can perceive the movement around them at any time. This feeling can help them protect themselves from wild injuries and, in domestic situations, help them sense when an owner is likely to be nearby and may go close to them.
Hamsters have incense glands on their flanks (as well as the belly of Chinese hamsters and pygmy hamsters) that allow hamsters to leave odors when digging for substrates or bedding. Hamsters also use their sense of smell to identify food and each other's sex.
Female hamsters can also use their sense of smell to find out their babies and find out which ones aren't. Scent glands can also be used to mark their territory, pup, or mate.
Hamsters capture sound by pricking up their ears. They tend to learn similar sounds and begin to understand the sounds of food, even the owner's. They are also particularly sensitive to high-pitched noise, hearing and communicating with ultrasound.
Feeding habits
Hamsters are omnivores, which means they can eat meat and vegetables. Hamsters living in the wild eat seeds and grass, and hamsters in the Middle East will swarm in search of insects for food.
While pet hamsters can survive eating only rat food, they can be given other items such as vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts. While store-bought foods are good for hamsters, it's best to include fruits and vegetables in their diet as this will make them healthier.
Although hamsters can eat both fruits and vegetables, it's important to know exactly what they can eat and how much they can eat. Hamsters are best suited to eating fruits other than citrus and most leafy greens.
Hamsters should not be fed junk food, chocolate, garlic, or anything with salt or sugar. Hamsters love to eat peanut butter, but be sure to feed them carefully as this sticky food can get stuck in their cheek pouches and cause inflammation. Hamsters are hindgut fermented, eating their own feces to recapture nutrients that have been digested but not absorbed
behavior
Hamsters like to hoard food, and they transport it to underground storage rooms with cheek pouches filled that can make their heads three times the size of before.
Hamsters fatten up during the fall months to meet winter, which happens even when hamsters are kept as pets. Hamsters communicate with each other through body language and even with their owners.
They communicate by sending specific scents by using their scent glands and also show body language to express their feelings. Hamsters are active mainly at dawn and dusk, and hamsters live underground for most of the day, leaving the burrow only for about an hour before sunset and then returning when it gets dark.
In the wild, Syrian hamsters can hibernate, allowing their body temperature to drop to near ambient temperatures. This thermoregulation reduces the metabolic rate to around 5%, helping to greatly reduce the need for food during the winter months. Hibernation can last up to a week, but more often it lasts 2 to 3 days. When kept as a domestic pet, Syrian hamsters do not hibernate.
All hamsters are good diggers who build burrows with one or more entrances connected to rooms for nesting, food storage, and other activities. They dig with their front and hind legs, as well as their nose and teeth.
In the wild, caves buffer extreme ambient temperatures, provide relatively stable climatic conditions, and protect from predators. Syrian hamsters usually burrow at a depth of 0.7 meters. A cave includes a steep entrance 4 to 5 cm in diameter, a nest and a hoarding chamber, and a blind branch for urination.
Lab-bred hamsters do not lose the ability to dig holes, in fact if they are given the proper substrate, they do so with great vigor and skill. Wild hamsters also occupy tunnels built by other mammals, such as the Junggar hamster, which uses a pika burrow.
reproduction
Hamsters have a reproductive age depending on their species, with both Syrian hamsters and Russian hamsters maturing quickly and can start breeding at 4 to 5 weeks of age, while Chinese hamsters usually start breeding at two to three months of age and Robrovsky at three to four months old.
The reproductive lifespan of female hamsters lasts about 18 months, but male hamsters have much longer fertility. The female goes into heat about every four days, which is manifested by reddening the genital area and emitting a musky smell, and if she thinks there is a male nearby, she hisses, squeaks.
From above, sexually mature female hamsters have a neat tail line; Males have a raised tail line on both sides. This may not be obvious in all species. Male hamsters usually have very large testicles compared to their size.
Determining the sex of young hamsters is more difficult before sexual maturity occurs. On examination, female hamsters have anal and genital openings close together, while male hamsters have these two holes far apart, and the penis usually retracts its fur and thus appears as a hole or pink pimple.
Syrian hamsters are seasonal breeders and give birth to several litters per year, each clutch with several cubs. The breeding season in the Northern Hemisphere is from April to October, with a gestation period of 16 to 18 days for Syrian hamsters, 18 to 21 days for Russian hamsters, 21 to 23 days for Chinese hamsters and 23 to 30 days for Robrovsky hamsters.
The average litter size of a Syrian hamster is about 7 pups, but can be as many as 24, which is the maximum number of pups that can be accommodated in the womb. Campbell pygmy hamsters usually have 4 to 8 pups in a litter, but can have up to 13.
Hamsters produce one litter per month, are hairless at birth and take 14 days to open their eyes, and a week later they begin to explore outside the nest. The pups can feed after three weeks of age, before relying on their mothers for breastfeeding, and hamsters mature after reaching three weeks of age.
Syrian hamsters usually live no more than 2 to 3 years in captivity, and even less in the wild. Russian hamsters live about 2 to 4 years in captivity, Chinese hamsters 2 to 3 years, and smaller Robrovsky hamster hamsters usually live up to three years in captivity.