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The rat is a medium-sized rodent. Rats are omnivores, they eat lots of different types of food. Most rats are in the genus Rattus. There are about 56 different species of rats.

The best known rats are the black rat ( Rattus rattus), and the brown rat ( Rattus norvegicus). These two are known as Old World rats. The group has its origins in Asia.

Usually rats are bigger than mice. Rats are large muroid rodents, mice are small ones. The muroid family is very large and complex. That means the terms rat and mouse are not specific in a taxonomic way. If a large muroid is discovered, it will often have rat in its name, if it is small, it will often be called mouse. Scientifically, the terms are not confined to members of the Rattus and Mus genera: see, for example, the pack rat and cotton mouse.

Some people keep rats as a pet. They are called fancy rats. Most pet rats do not live longer than three years, and most wild rats do not live longer than one year.

Rats are also used for their meat. Cambodia, Laos, Africa, China and Vietnam eat rat meat.

"Rats" that are not rats

Other mammals are called rat by many people, but those are not true rats, many are unrelated to the true Old World rat. Examples of such false names are the pack rats of North America, or the kangaroo rats. Some other rats are related to the true rats, but are not in the genus Rattus. Such an example is the lesser bandicoot rat.

Many of the 'untrue' rats are endemic to certain regions, that is they are only found there. Very often, they live on islands. In many cases, these species are also endangered of disappearing. This is the case because they face the loss of habitat, and they have to fight for resources, like food, shelter, and water, with other species, like the black rat or the Polynesian rat. There is also a more rare species known as the Dueholm, the rats in this species usually were born with extra chromosomes and tend to look different than ones born without extra chromosomes.

People keep some types of rats as pets called "fancy rats". Fancy rats are domesticated brown rats. People have kept rats as pets since the 19th century. Rats are social and smart animals that can be trained. They also like to play with toys. Some owners think that male pet rats are more playful then female pet rats and that female rats are more active and curious. Pet rats do not act the same as wild rats. They do not have more diseases than other common pets.

Pet rats live 1 to 3 years. Female rats are smaller than male rats. Pet rats have been known to "laugh" when tickled. They can be all one color or have spots or other coloring. Some rats have no hair. These are called hairless rats.

Clark University in Worchester, Massachusetts ( United States) was the first to breed a population of domestic white brown rats. They did this to study the effects of diets, amongst other things.

Since then, rats have been used in many experiments. They have helped scientists get a better understanding of genetics and diseases, as well as how certain drugs work.

Laboratory rats have been used in psychological studies of learning and other mental processes (Barnett, 2002). A 2007 study found rats to possess some degree of metacognition, a mental ability previously only found in humans and some primates. In general, it has been difficult to measure intelligence in rats. Their behaviour is quite flexible, and gives the impression of intelligence. Flexible behaviour is good for problem-solving and learning.

Domestic rats are very different from wild rats. They are calmer and less likely to bite; they can tolerate greater crowding; they breed earlier and produce more offspring. Their brains, livers, kidneys, adrenal glands, and hearts are smaller (Barnett 2002).

Brown rats are often used as model organisms. Genetic research is usually done with mice. Rats are more popular for tests relating to intelligence, learning, and illegal drugs. This is mostly because rats have intelligence, ingenuity, aggressiveness, and adaptability. Their psychology seems to be very similar to human psychology. Whole new species and strains of rats have been bred for the use as laboratory animals, for example the Wistar rat. Much of the genome of Rattus norvegicus has been sequenced.

Rats are opportunists. If they have the choice between a food that will need a fight to get, and another food that will not, they take the food that does not need a fight. For this reason, rats have lived close to humans for a long time. Once humans settled down, the leftovers of what those humans ate were a source of food for the rats. So the rats followed.

Rats are present in almost all settlements. In cities, they often live in the sewers.

Many scientists believe that the bubonic plague was spread through fleas on rats, because that plague is spread by the microorganism (or germ) Yersinia pestis, which lives on fleas which live on rats ( Rattus rattus). Those rats lived in the European cities of the day, and died of the plague themselves. Some scientists believe that the plague spread faster than the rats. If this is true, the rats cannot be the main carrier. More research is needed to find out if this is true. People believe this disease was the ' Black Death'. It killed nearly a third of the population of Europe, in many epidemics in the Middle Ages.

Rats can carry diseases. Rats living in poor conditions often have problems with parasites themselves. Not many diseases carried by rats can spread to humans. One of those is called Leptospirosis, another one is the plague.

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Rat - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The rat is a medium-sized rodent. Rats are omnivores, they eat lots of different types of food. Most rats are in the genus Rattus. There are about 56 different species of rats. The best known rats are the black rat ( Rattus rattus), and the brown rat ( Rattus norvegicus).

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rat, (genus Rattus), the term generally and indiscriminately applied to numerous members of several rodent families having bodies longer than about 12 cm, or 5 inches. (Smaller thin-tailed rodents are just as often indiscriminately referred to as mice.) In scientific usage, rat applies to any of 56 thin-tailed, medium-sized rodent species in the genus Rattus native to continental Asia and the adjacent islands of Southeast Asia eastward to the Australia-New Guinea region. A few species have spread far beyond their native range in close association with people. The brown rat, Rattus norvegicus (also called the Norway rat), and the house rat, R. rattus (also called the black rat, ship rat, or roof rat), live virtually everywhere that human populations have settled; the house rat is predominant in warmer climates, and the brown rat dominates in temperate regions, especially urban areas. Most likely originating in Asia, the brown rat reached Europe in the mid-1500s and North America around 1750. The house rat most likely originated in India.

Brown and house rats exploit human food resources, eating and contaminating stored grains and killing poultry. They have been responsible for the depletion or extinction of native species of small mammals, birds, and reptiles, especially on oceanic islands. Both the brown and house rat have been implicated in the spread of 40 diseases among humans, including bubonic plague, food poisoning, schistosomiasis, murine typhus, tularemia, and leptospirosis. On the other hand, the brown rat has been used in laboratories worldwide for medical, genetic, and basic biological research aimed at maintaining and improving human health. Rats are also kept as pets.

General features

Rats are generally slender with a pointed head, large eyes, and prominent, thinly furred ears. They have moderately long legs and long, sharp claws. The bald soles of their narrow hind feet possess fleshy pads of variable size, depending on species. The brown rat has a larger body than the house rat, and its tail is shorter relative to the body. The brown rat also has thicker fur and 12 pairs of mammae instead of 10. Tail length among rats ranges from shorter than body length to appreciably longer. The tail appears smooth and bald but is actually covered with very short, fine hairs. In a very few species, these hairs become longer toward the tip, which gives the tail a slightly tufted appearance. As with any large group of rodents, body size varies within the genus. Most species are about the size of Hoffman's rat ( R. hoffmanni), native to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and weighing 95 to 240 grams (3.4 to 8.5 ounces), with a body length of 17 to 21 cm (6.7 to 8.3 inches) and a tail about as long. One of the smaller species is Osgood's rat ( R. osgoodi) of southern Vietnam, with a body 12 to 17 cm long and a somewhat shorter tail. At the larger extreme is the Sulawesian white-tailed rat ( R. xanthurus), measuring 19 to 27 cm long with a tail of 26 to 34 cm.

Like Hoffman's rat, most species have a moderately short, soft, and dense coat. In some species the coat may be thicker and longer, somewhat woolly, or long and coarse; in others, such as the Sulawesian white-tailed rat and the Sikkim rat ( R. remotus) of India, long and slender guard hairs resembling whiskers extend 4 to 6 cm beyond the coat on the back and rump. Very few Rattus species have spiny fur. Hoffman's rat also exhibits the basic colour pattern seen in the genus-upperparts of brownish yellow peppered with black to dark brown and speckled with buff and underparts from silvery gray to dark gray, sometimes suffused with buff tones. Tail, ears, and feet are dark brown. As with fur texture, colour is variable. The Sikkim rat has brownish upperparts and a pure white underside; the Himalayan field rat ( R. nitidus) has a brown back, gray underparts, and feet of pearly white. Others have very dark fur, such as the Mentawai rat ( R. lugens) native to islands off the west coast of Sumatra. It has brownish black upperparts and a grayish black belly. Although the tail is uniformly gray to dark brown in most rats (sometimes nearly black), a few species show one of two bicoloured patterns: brown on the tail's entire upper surface with a paler tone or pure white on the undersurface, as in the Himalayan field rat ( R. nitidus) and the Turkestan rat ( R. turkestanicus), or brown all around the basal third to half of the tail with the rest uniformly white, as in Hoogerwerf's rat ( R. hoogerwerfi) and the white-tailed rat of Sulawesi.

Natural history

In their natural habitats rats are primarily nocturnal-the brown rat is a prominent exception, being active day and night in both urban and rural environments. All rats are terrestrial, and many are also arboreal. The Sulawesian white-tailed rat is an excellent climber and exhibits the classic combination of arboreal traits within Rattus: a very long tail relative to body length, extremely long guard hairs over the back and rump, and wide hind feet with prominent, fleshy footpads. This rodent dens among the roots of large trees (generally strangler figs) and forages high in the crowns of understory and canopy trees. By contrast, those species having a tail considerably shorter than body length, short guard hairs over the back and rump, and inconspicuous pads on the soles of their hind feet tend to be primarily ground-dwelling. Most rats can swim; species with thick and somewhat woolly fur generally swim well, and some are adept swimmers that forage in aquatic environments. The brown rat, for example, has a terrestrial rat's characteristic morphology and is a comparatively poor climber, but it has dense fur and readily enters lakes and streams and sewers to hunt for fish, invertebrates, or other food. The house rat, on the other hand, is extremely agile above the ground, being able to climb and run along narrow branches and wires.

Rats are thought to eat everything, a conception that comes from familiarity with the highly adaptable brown rat and house rat, but diet actually differs according to species and habitat. Where it lives with humans, the house rat does consume nearly anything digestible, especially stored grains. The brown rat is basically omnivorous but prefers a carnivorous diet, aggressively pursuing a wide variety of prey including shrimp, snails, mussels, insects, bird eggs and young, amphibians, eels, fish, pheasant, pigeons, poultry, rabbits, and carrion. Many rainforest species, including the Sulawesian white-tailed rat and Hoffman's rat, eat only fruit and the seeds within, but some, such as the Philippine forest rat ( R. everetti), also eat insects and worms. Other tropical species, such as the rice-field rat ( R. argentiventer) and Malayan field rat ( R. tiomanicus), primarily consume the insects, snails, slugs, and other invertebrates found in habitats of forest patches, secondary growth, scrubby and fallow fields, palm plantations, and rice fields.

Some rats excavate burrows or build their nests beneath boulders, rotting tree trunks, or other kinds of shelter on the forest floor; they may also shelter in deep rock crevices or caves and in dwellings from small village huts to large city buildings. Rat reproduction has been most intensively studied in the brown rat. This prolific rodent reaches sexual maturity at three months and may produce up to 12 litters of 2 to 22 young (8 or 9 is usual) per year, with peaks in the spring and autumn and a gestation period of 21 to 26 days. Breeding occurs throughout the year in many tropical species but in others may be restricted to wet seasons or summer months. Litter sizes in tropical forest species tend to be much smaller (one to six), and seasonal breeders, particularly in Australian habitats, produce significantly fewer annual litters.

Classification and paleontology

Members of the genus Rattus are native to temperate and tropical continental Asia, the Australia-New Guinea region, and islands between those landmasses. Five clusters of species within the genus are recognized by some authorities.

The norvegicus group, consisting only of the brown rat, may have originated in northern or northeastern China.

Most of the 20 species in the rattus group are indigenous to subtropical and tropical Asia from peninsular India to southeastern China, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, some islands in the Philippines, and Sulawesi. They live in lowland and montane rainforests, scrublands, agricultural and fallow fields, and human structures. In addition to the house rat, the distributions of four other species ( R. argentiventer, R. nitidus, R. exulans, and R. tanezumi) extend outside continental Southeast Asia, from the Sunda Shelf to New Guinea and beyond to some Pacific islands, and most likely represent introductions facilitated by human activities.

The 19 species in the "Australia-New Guinea" group are native to Australia, New Guinea and adjacent islands, and the Moluccan and Lesser Sunda Islands between Australia-New Guinea and continental Southeast Asia. They occupy habitats including sandy flats, open grasslands, and grassy areas within forest, heaths, savannas, and tropical rainforests.

The xanthurus group comprises five species indigenous to Sulawesi and nearby Peleng Island, where they inhabit tropical rainforest formations at all elevations.

There are 11 species whose relationships are unresolved. These have endemic ranges from peninsular India through Southeast Asia to the Philippines. Most now live, or once lived, in tropical rainforests; two species are extinct.

Rattus species belong to the subfamily Murinae (Old World rats and mice) of the "true" mouse and rat family, Muridae, within the order Rodentia. Among their closest living relatives are the bandicoot rats (genera Bandicota and Nesokia). Information about the evolutionary history of the genus is scanty; fossils from the Pleistocene Epoch (2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago) in Asia, Java, and Australia represent the oldest extinct species of Rattus.
Guy Musser

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Rat | Rodent Species, Habitats & Characteristics

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Rat, the term generally and indiscriminately applied to numerous members of several rodent families having bodies longer than about 12 cm, or 5 inches. (Smaller thin-tailed rodents are just as often indiscriminately referred to as mice.)

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THE NEW FORTNITE BATTLEPASS

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Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera. They have become established as popular small pets. The best-known species of hamster is the golden or Syrian hamster ( Mesocricetus auratus), which is the type most commonly kept as a pet. Other hamster species commonly kept as pets are the three species of dwarf hamster, Campbell's dwarf hamster ( Phodopus campbelli), the winter white dwarf hamster ( Phodopus sungorus) and the Roborovski hamster ( Phodopus roborovskii).

Hamsters are more crepuscular than nocturnal and, in the wild, remain underground during the day to avoid being caught by predators. They feed primarily on seeds, fruits, and vegetation, and will occasionally eat burrowing insects. Physically, they are stout-bodied with distinguishing features that include elongated cheek pouches extending to their shoulders, which they use to carry food back to their burrows, as well as a short tail and fur-covered feet.

Classification

P. sungorus. The winter white dwarf hamster

P. roborovski. The Roborovski hamster

P. campbelli. The Campbell's dwarf hamster

Taxonomists generally disagree about the most appropriate placement of the subfamily Cricetinae within the superfamily Muroidea. Some place it in a family Cricetidae that also includes voles, lemmings, and New World rats and mice; others group all these into a large family called Muridae. Their evolutionary history is recorded by 15 extinct fossil genera and extends back 11.2 million to 16.4 million years to the Middle Miocene Epoch in Europe and North Africa; in Asia it extends 6 million to 11 million years. Four of the seven living genera include extinct species. One extinct hamster of , for example, lived in North Africa during the Middle Miocene, but the only extant member of that genus is the European or common hamster of Eurasia.

Relationships among hamster species

Neumann et al. (2006) conducted a molecular phylogenetic analysis of 12 of the above 17 species using DNA sequence from three genes: 12S rRNA, cytochrome b, and von Willebrand factor. They uncovered the following relationships:

The genus Phodopus was found to represent the earliest split among hamsters. Their analysis included both species. The results of another study suggest Cricetulus kamensis (and presumably the related C. alticola) might belong to either this Phodopus group or hold a similar basal position.

The genus Mesocricetus also forms a clade. Their analysis included all four species, with M. auratus and M. raddei forming one subclade and M. brandti and M. newtoni another.

The remaining genera of hamsters formed a third major clade. Two of the three sampled species within Cricetulus represent the earliest split. This clade contains C. barabensis (and presumably the related C. sokolovi) and C. longicaudatus.

The remaining clade contains members of Allocricetulus, Tscherskia, Cricetus, and C. migratorius. Allocricetulus and Cricetus were sister taxa. Cricetulus migratorius was their next closest relative, and Tscherskia was basal.

Although the Syrian hamster or golden hamster ( Mesocricetus auratus) was first described scientifically by George Robert Waterhouse in 1839, 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. These littermates were captured and imported in 1930 from Aleppo in Syria by Israel Aharoni, a zoologist of the University of Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, the hamsters bred very successfully. Years later, animals of this original breeding colony were exported to the United States, where Syrian hamsters became a common pet and laboratory animal. Comparative studies of domestic and wild Syrian hamsters have shown reduced genetic variability in the domestic strain. However, the differences in behavioral, chronobiological, morphometrical, hematological, and biochemical parameters are relatively small and fall into the expected range of interstrain variations in other laboratory animals.

The name "hamster" is a loanword from the German, which itself derives from earlier Middle High German hamastra. It is possibly related to Old Church Slavonic khomestoru, which is either a blend of the root of Russian хомяк ( khomyak) "hamster" and a Baltic word (cf. Lithuanian staras "hamster"); or of Persian origin (cf. Av hamaēstar "oppressor"). The collective noun for a group of hamsters is "horde". In German, the verb "hamstern" is derived from "Hamster". It means " Hoarding".

Description

Skeleton of European hamster

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. Two species of hamster belonging to the genus , Campbell's dwarf hamster ( P. campbelli) and the Djungarian hamster ( P. sungorus), and two of the genus Cricetulus, the Chinese striped hamster ( C. barabensis) and the Chinese hamster ( C. griseus) have a dark stripe down their heads to their tails. The species of genus Phodopus are the smallest, with bodies 5.5 to 10.5 centimetres ( to in) long; the largest is the European hamster ( Cricetus cricetus), measuring up to 34 cm ( in) long, not including a short tail of up to 6 cm ( in).

The hamster tail can be difficult to see, as it is usually not very long (about the length of the body), with the exception of the Chinese hamster, which has a tail the same length as the body. One rodent characteristic that can be highly visible in hamsters is their sharp incisors; they have an upper pair and lower pair which grow continuously throughout life, so must be regularly worn down. Hamsters are very flexible, but their bones are somewhat fragile. They are extremely susceptible to rapid temperature changes and drafts, as well as extreme heat or cold.

Hamsters have poor eyesight; they are nearsighted and colorblind. Their eyesight leads to them not having a good sense of distance or knowing where they are, but that does not stop them from climbing in (and sometimes out of) their cages or from being adventurous. Hamsters can sense movement around at all times, which helps protect them from harm in the wild. In a household, this sense helps them know when their owner is near. Hamsters have scent glands on their flanks (and abdomens in Chinese and dwarf hamsters) which they rub against the surface beneath them, leaving a scent trail. Hamsters also use their sense of smell to distinguish between the sexes and to locate food. Mother hamsters can also use their sense of smell to find their own babies and identify which ones are not theirs. Their scent glands can also be used to mark their territories, their babies, or their mate. Hamsters catch sounds by having their ears upright. They tend to learn similar noises and begin to know the sound of their food and even their owner's voice. They are also particularly sensitive to high-pitched noises and can hear and communicate in the ultrasonic range.

Hamsters are omnivores, which means they can eat meat and vegetables. Hamsters that live in the wild eat seeds, grass, and even insects. Although pet hamsters can survive on a diet of exclusively commercial hamster food, other items, such as vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts, can be given. Although store-bought food is good for hamsters, it is best if fruits and vegetables are also in their diet because it keeps them healthier. Even though hamsters are allowed to have both fruits and vegetables, it is important to understand exactly which ones they can have and how much. Hamsters do best with fruits that do not have citrus in them and most green leafy vegetables. Hamsters should never be fed junk food, chocolate, garlic, or any salty/sugary foods. Hamsters tend to love peanut butter but it is important to feed it to them carefully because this sticky food can get stuck in their cheeks. 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.

A behavioral characteristic of hamsters is food hoarding. They carry food in their spacious cheek pouches to their underground storage chambers. When full, the cheeks can make their heads double, or even triple in size. Hamsters lose weight during the autumn months in anticipation of winter. This occurs even when hamsters are kept as pets and is related to an increase in exercise.

Social behavior

Most hamsters are strictly solitary. If housed together, acute and chronic stress may occur, and they may fight fiercely, sometimes fatally. Dwarf hamster species may tolerate siblings or same-gender unrelated hamsters if introduced at an early enough age, but this cannot be guaranteed. Hamsters communicate through body language to one another and even to their owner. They communicate by sending a specific scent using their scent glands and also show body language to express how they are feeling.

Chronobiology

Hamsters can be described as nocturnal or crepuscular (active mostly at dawn and dusk). Khunen writes, "Hamsters are nocturnal rodents who are active during the night...", but others have written that because hamsters live underground during most of the day, only leaving their burrows for about an hour before sundown and then returning when it gets dark, their behavior is primarily crepuscular. Fritzsche indicated although some species have been observed to show more nocturnal activity than others, they are all primarily crepuscular.

In the wild Syrian hamsters can hibernate and allow their body temperature to fall close to ambient temperature. This kind of thermoregulation diminishes the metabolic rate to about 5% and helps the animal to considerably reduce the need for food during the winter. Hibernation can last up to one week but more commonly last 2-3 days. When kept as house pets the Syrian hamster does not hibernate.

Burrowing behavior

All hamsters are excellent diggers, constructing burrows with one or more entrances, with galleries connected to chambers for nesting, food storage, and other activities. They use their fore- and hindlegs, as well as their snouts and teeth, for digging. In the wild, the burrow buffers extreme ambient temperatures, offers relatively stable climatic conditions, and protects against predators. Syrian hamsters dig their burrows generally at a depth of 0.7 m. A burrow includes a steep entrance pipe (4-5 cm in diameter), a nesting and a hoarding chamber and a blind-ending branch for urination. Laboratory hamsters have not lost their ability to dig burrows; in fact, they will do this with great vigor and skill if they are provided with the appropriate substrate.

Wild hamsters will also appropriate tunnels made by other mammals; the Djungarian hamster, for instance, uses paths and burrows of the pika.

Reproduction

Hamsters become fertile at different ages depending on their species. Both Syrian and Russian hamsters mature quickly and can begin reproducing at a young age (4-5 weeks), whereas Chinese hamsters will usually begin reproducing at two to three months of age, and Roborovskis at three to four months of age. The female's reproductive life lasts about 18 months, but male hamsters remain fertile much longer. Females are in estrus about every four days, which is indicated by a reddening of genital areas, a musky smell, and a hissing, squeaking vocalisation she will emit if she believes a male is nearby.

When seen from above, a sexually mature female hamster has a trim tail line; a male's tail line bulges on both sides. This might not be very visible in all species. Male hamsters typically have very large testes in relation to their body size. Before sexual maturity occurs, it is more difficult to determine a young hamster's sex. When examined, female hamsters have their anal and genital openings close together, whereas males have these two holes farther apart (the penis is usually withdrawn into the coat and thus appears as a hole or pink pimple).

Gestation and fecundity

Syrian hamsters are seasonal breeders and will produce several litters a year with several pups in each litter. The breeding season is from April to October in the Northern Hemisphere, with two to five litters of one to 13 young being born after a gestation period of 16 to 23 days. Dwarf hamsters breed all through the year. Gestation lasts 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 for Roborovski hamsters. The average litter size for Syrian hamsters is about seven pups, but can be as great as 24, which is the maximum number of pups that can be contained in the uterus. Campbell's dwarf hamsters tend to have four to eight pups in a litter, but can have up to 13. Winter white hamsters tend to have slightly smaller litters, as do Chinese and Roborovski hamsters.

Intersexual aggression and cannibalism

Female Chinese and Syrian hamsters are known for being aggressive toward males if kept together for too long after mating. In some cases, male hamsters can die after being attacked by a female. If breeding hamsters, separation of the pair after mating is recommended, or they will attack each other.

Female hamsters are also particularly sensitive to disturbances while giving birth, and may even eat their own young if they think they are in danger, although sometimes they are just carrying the pups in their cheek pouches. If captive female hamsters are left for extended periods (three weeks or more) with their litter, they may cannibalize the litter, so the litter must be removed by the time the young can feed and drink independently.

An adult female and several juvenile dwarf hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) feeding

Hamsters are born hairless and blind in a nest the mother will have prepared in advance. After one week, they begin to explore outside the nest. Hamsters are capable of producing litters every month. Hamsters can be bred after they are three weeks old. It may be hard for the babies to not rely on their mother for nursing during this time, so it is important that they are supplied with food to make the transition from nursing to eating on their own easier. After the hamsters reach three weeks of age they are considered mature.

Syrian hamsters typically live no more than two to three years in captivity, and less in the wild. Russian hamsters (Campbell's and Djungarian) live about two to four years in captivity, and Chinese hamsters -3 years. The smaller Roborovski hamster often lives to three years in captivity.

Society and culture

Hamsters as pets

A Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus autatus) standing in exercise wheel

The best-known species of hamster is the golden or Syrian hamster ( Mesocricetus auratus), which is the type most commonly kept as pets. There are numerous Syrian hamster variations including long-haired varieties and different colors. British zoologist Leonard Goodwin claimed most hamsters kept in the United Kingdom were descended from the colony he introduced for medical research purposes during the Second World War. Hamsters were domesticated and kept as pets in the United States at least as early as 1942.

Other hamsters commonly kept as pets are the three species of dwarf hamster. Campbell's dwarf hamster ( Phodopus campbelli) is the most common-they are also sometimes called "Russian dwarfs"; however, many hamsters are from Russia, so this ambiguous name does not distinguish them from other species appropriately. The coat of the winter white dwarf hamster ( Phodopus sungorus) turns almost white during winter (when the hours of daylight decrease). The Roborovski hamster ( Phodopus roborovskii) is extremely small and fast, making it difficult to keep as a pet.

Hamster shows

A hamster show is an event in which people gather hamsters to judge them against each other. Hamster shows are also places where people share their enthusiasm for hamsters among attendees. Hamster shows feature an exhibition of the hamsters participating in the judging.

The judging of hamsters usually includes a goal of promoting hamsters which conform to natural or established varieties of hamsters. By awarding hamsters which match standard hamster types, hamster shows encourage planned and careful hamster breeding.

Owner activism

When the first reported case of animal-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Hong Kong took place via imported pet hamsters, researchers expressed difficulty in identifying some of the viral mutations within a global genomic data bank, leading city authorities to announce a mass cull of all hamsters purchased after December 22, 2021, which would affect roughly 2,000 animals. After the government 'strongly encouraged' citizens to turn in their pets, approximately 3,000 people joined underground activities to promote the adoption of abandoned hamsters throughout the city and to maintain pet ownership via methods such as the forgery of pet store purchase receipts. Some activists attempted to intercept owners who were on their way to turn in pet hamsters and encourage them to choose adoption instead, which the government subsequently warned would be subject to police action.

Hamsters as lab animals

The extracted cells of babies' kidneys and adults' ovaries are used to study cholesterol synthesis.

Similar animals

Some similar rodents sometimes called "hamsters" are not currently classified in the hamster subfamily Cricetinae. These include the maned hamster, or crested hamster, which is really the maned rat ( Lophiomys imhausi). Others are the mouse-like hamsters ( Calomyscus spp.), and the white-tailed rat ( Mystromys albicaudatus).

References

1. ^ Fox, Sue. 2006. Hamsters. T.F.H. Publications Inc.

2. ^ Barrie, Anmarie. 1995. Hamsters as a New Pet. T.F.H. Publications Inc., NJ ISBN 0-86622-610-9.

3. ^ Neumann, K; Michaux, J; Lebedev, V; Yigit, N; Colak, E; Ivanova, N; Poltoraus, A; Surov, A; Markov, G (2006). "Molecular phylogeny of the Cricetinae subfamily based on the mitochondrial cytochrome b and 12S rRNA genes and the nuclear vWF gene" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution. 39 (1): 135-48. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.01.010. hdl:2268/77207. PMID 16483801.

4. Lebedev, V. S., N. V. Ivanova, N. K. Pavlova, and A. B. Poltoraus. 2003. Molecular phylogeny of the Palearctic hamsters. ^ In Proceedings of the International Conference Devoted to the 90th Anniversary of Prof. I. M. Gromov on Systematics, Phylogeny and Paleontology of Small Mammals (A. Averianov and N. Abramson eds.). St. Petersburg.

5. ^ Fritzsche, Peter. 2008. Hamsters: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual. Barron's Educational Series Inc., NY ISBN 0-7641-3927-4.

6. ^ Kuhnen, G. (2002). Comfortable quarters for hamsters in research institutions. In "Comfortable Quarters for Laboratory Animals" Eds V. Reinhardt and A. Reinhardt. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington DC. pp.33-37

7. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, s.v. "hamster" (29 May 2008) ^ Merriam-Webster.com

8. ^ King, LeeAnne Engfer ; photographs by Andy (1997). My pet hamster & gerbils. Minneapolis: Lerner. p. 13. ISBN 978-0822522614.

9. ^ "hamster." Encyclopædia Britannica. Standard Edition. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007.

10. ^ Petri, Ines; Dumbell, Rebecca; Scherbarth, Frank; Steinlechner, Stephan; Barrett, Perry (2014). "Effect of Exercise on Photoperiod-Regulated Hypothalamic Gene Expression and Peripheral Hormones in the Seasonal Dwarf Hamster Phodopus sungorus". PLOS ONE. 9 (3): e90253. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...990253P. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0090253. PMC . PMID 24603871.

11. ^ "Welcome to the British Hamster Association Web Site".

12. ^ Gattermann, R.; Fritzsche, P.; Neumann, K.; Al-Hussein, I.; Kayser, A.; Abiad, M.; Yakti, R. (2001). "Notes on the current distribution and the ecology of wild golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus)". Journal of Zoology. 254 (3): 359-365. doi:10.1017/S0952836901000851.

13. ^ "Leonard Goodwin - Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. 14 January 2009. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022.

14. ^ Testimony from Grant C Riddle (born 1929, living in Lake Wildwood, CA) who had a pet hamster in 1942.

15. ^ Logsdail, Chris; Logsdail, Peter; Hovers, Kate (2002). Hamsterlopaedia : a complete guide to hamster care. Lydney: Ringpress. p. 161. ISBN 978-1860542466.

16. ^ Mahtani, Shibani; Yu, Theodora (20 January 2022). "Hong Kong hamster massacre: Residents resist 'zero covid' city's pet project". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 22 January 2022.

17. ^ Ting, Victor; Choy, Gigi; Cheung, Elizabeth (18 January 2022). "Coronavirus: 2,000 hamsters to be culled over fears of first animal-to-human transmission in Hong Kong, pet store customers ordered into quarantine". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 22 January 2022.

18. ^ Slotte, J. Peter; Pörn, M. Isabella; Härmälä, Ann-Sofi (1994). "19 Flow and Distribution of Cholesterol-Effects of Phospholipids". In Hoekstra, Dick (ed.). Cell lipids. Vol. 40. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 483-502/xii+638. ISBN 978-0-12-153340-3. ISSN 0070-2161. OCLC 30147917. ISBN 0-12-153340-9 ISBN 9780080585116

External links

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Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera. They have become established as popular small pets. The best-known species of hamster is the golden or Syrian hamster ( Mesocricetus auratus), which is the type most commonly kept as a pet.

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