Discovery
Syrian hamsters originate from Syria and were found in 1839 by George Robert Waterhouse who was a British Zoologist. Their natural condition is a dry, hot desert climate. The word 'Hamster' is German for 'to hoard food' as that is what they naturally do during the night.
Hamsters sleep during the day in the deepest part of their burrow to avoid predators. At night there is less chance of them being attacked but even so, they may keep in groups although it is not advised to keep more than one as a pet. Waterhouse's original specimen was a female hamster - he named it Cricetus auratus or the "golden hamster". The skin of the specimen is kept at the British Museum of Natural History.
In 1930, Israel Aharoni, a zoologist and professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, captured a mother hamster and her litter of pups in Aleppo, Syria. The hamsters were bred in Jerusalem as laboratory animals. Some escaped from the cage through a hole in the floor, and most of the wild Syrian hamsters in Israel today are believed to be descended from this litter.
Descendants of the captive hamsters were shipped to Britain in 1931, where they came under the care of the Wellcome Bureau of Scientific Research. They bred well and two more pair were given to the Zoological Society of London in 1932. The descendants of these were passed on to private breeders in 1937. A separate stock of hamsters was exported from Syria to the USA in 1971, but it appears that none of today's North American pets are descended from these (at least in the female line), because recent mitochondrial DNA studies have established that all domestic golden hamsters are descended from one female – probably the one captured in 1930 in Syria. Since the species was named, the genus Cricetus has been subdivided and this species (together with several others) was separated into the genus Mesocricetus, leading to the currently accepted scientific name for the Syrian Hamster of Mesocricetus auratus.
Surviving in the wild
Following Professor Aharoni's collection in 1930, only infrequent sightings and captures were reported in the wild. Finally, to confirm the current existence of the wild Syrian hamster in northern Syria and southern Turkey, two expeditions were carried out during September 1997 and March 1999. The researchers found and mapped 30 burrows. None of the inhabited burrows contained more than one adult. The team caught six females and seven males. One female was pregnant and gave birth to six pups. All these 19 caught Syrian hamsters, together with three wild individuals from the University of Aleppo, were shipped to Germany to form a new breeding stock.
Observations of females in this wild population have revealed that contrary to laboratory populations, activity patterns are crepuscular rather than nocturnal, possibly to avoid nocturnal predators such as owls.
Syrian hamsters in scientific research
Hamsters are widely used in research. For example, according to the Canadian Council for Animal Care, a total of 6,402 hamsters were used for research in 2006 in Canada, making them the fourth most popular rodent after mice (910,540), rats (331,560), and gerbils (37,246).
In captivity, Syrian hamsters follow well defined daily routines of wheel-running activity, which has made them popular subjects in circadian rhythms research. They have a number of fixed action patterns that are readily observed, including scent-marking and body grooming, which is of interest in ethology (the study of animal behaviour).
But by far the greatest use of hamsters is in biomedical research. Among other things, because captive Syrian hamsters are highly inbred (being descended from only a few captured individuals) they have a high incidence of a genetic heart condition causing dilated cardiomyopathy. Several inbred strains of hamsters have been developed as animal models for human forms of dilated cardiomyopathy. The gene responsible for hamster cardiomyopathy in a widely studied inbred hamster strain, BIO14.6, has been identified as being delta-sarcoglycan. Pet hamsters are also potentially prone to cardiomyopathy, which is a not infrequent cause of unexpected sudden death in adolescent or young adult hamsters.
Scientific studies of animal welfare concerning captive Syrian hamsters have shown that they prefer to use running wheels of large diameters, and that they prefer bedding material which allows them to build nests, if nesting material is not already available.
Hamsters as pets
Syrian hamsters are popular as house pets due to their docile, inquisitive nature and small size. However, these animals have some special requirements that must be met in order for them to be happy and healthy. Although some people mistakenly think of them as a pet for young children, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) recommends hamsters as pets only for persons 7 years or older and the child should be supervised by an adult.
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.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) states there is no such thing as a habitat that is too big for a hamster. The hamster will spend the majority of its time in the cage, so it should be as big as possible, safe, comfortable and interesting. Syrian hamsters are energetic and need space to exercise.
Handling
Syrian hamsters are the easiest of all hamsters to handle due to their large size. This is why they are an ideal pet for children and adults alike. They rarely bite. Hamsters have specific points to be handled by, and if handled in the wrong place, it can harm them, or they may think the person petting them is a predator.
You may see your vet handle them by their neck; this is actually a flap of skip called the "scrap". It does not harm them and their mother may pick them up by pulling the pups' scrap. The scrap does not have many nerves inside so the hamster does not feel it, although it should not be used too much as it does stretch their fur, making them feel uncomfortable.
Long-haired or "Angora" hamsters
"Angora" hamsters are commonly known as "Teddy Bear" hamsters. Female Teddy Bear hamsters have short velvety fur, that comes in many different colors. 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), the 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 is no longer the case.
