Hamsters. Sergei Alexandrovich Mikhailov

Chapter 1. These funny animals
Variety of species
A hamster is a small mammal from the order of rodents. In the wild, it lives mainly in central Russia. Hamsters come in a variety of breeds and colors. But in our country, two species are predominantly found - Dzungarian and Syrian. Dzungarian hamsters can be easily distinguished from Syrian hamsters: they are much smaller and have a gray color with a longitudinal black stripe on the back.
But Syrian hamsters can be very difficult to distinguish from others. The fact is that they can be short-haired, long-haired or hairless, that is, bald. The first two types can have a variety of colors.

Syrian hamsters have four toes on their front paws and five on their back paws. They have cheek pouches so large that they can easily carry half their body weight into them. But they live in captivity very little - about 2-2.5 years. But if they are kept in good conditions, then they can live 3 or even 4 years.
In addition to these two types of hamsters, there is another one - Russian dwarfs. They live in the steppes of Central Asia, in the Altai Mountains, Mongolia, and also in many other regions. Sometimes this type of hamster is also called Siberian. They belong to the Dzungarian breed. Adults can reach a length of about 10-12 cm, their short legs are covered with hair. But these hamsters live very little - from 1.5 to 2 years, and it is more difficult to tame them than, for example, Syrian ones.
There is also such a breed of hamsters as Chinese. They live in northern China and Mongolia and belong to the breed of rat-like hamsters, so they look more like a mouse than a hamster. If you want to get such a hamster, then we hasten to disappoint you. You are unlikely to see them in a pet store, they are very difficult to breed, so this is done exclusively by professionals, who are also not so many.
And here is another breed of hamsters, it is known by the name of the Roborovsky hamster. These are fast and agile hamsters, and they live in Northern China and Mongolia. It is very interesting to watch hamsters of this breed. They are active not only at night, but also during the day. But holding them in your hands is not so easy: they are so active that they constantly move and break out of your hands. But these cute animals are rarely kept in captivity. The fact is that they require special conditions of detention, and not every an amateur hamster breeder can provide them. Roborovsky hamsters live for about 3–3.5 years.

There is also a species of hamster called the Eversman hamster. They are small in size, slightly larger than a house mouse, with short legs and a very small tail. The muzzle of the hamster is slightly pointed, the ears are small and round at the ends. But these hamsters are poorly tamed and hardly survive in captivity. They live for about 2 years.

If you decide to get a hamster, it is best to purchase a Dzungarian or Syrian. You can also buy a Siberian if you have the patience to tame it. The rest of the hamsters are very difficult to tame, and they are extremely rare in pet stores.

Color whims
Despite the fact that hamsters at home began to be bred quite recently, about forty different colors and about five types of various white spot patterns have already been bred.

As a rule, most domestic dwarf hamsters, which include Syrian and Roborovsky hamsters, have the same color as they have in nature. They have a gray-brown back, a light gray belly and a dark longitudinal stripe on the back. In nature, Syrian hamsters are golden in color. Their fur is red on the outside, and dark gray inside, the ears are gray, the cheeks and bangs are black, there are white stripes behind the cheeks, and the abdomen is white. If the hamster is short-haired, then it looks red, and if it is long-haired, then it looks red-gray.

The second most common color in the Syrian hamster is cream. Such a hamster has all the hair from the tips to the roots of the same color, only his ears are gray.

There are also black hamsters. They have only a belly with white spots, the rest of the coat is entirely black.

The dark gray hamster has the same color as the golden one, only the tips of its fur are not red, but dark gray, so it looks like dark gray with black cheeks and bangs.

Hamsters with a light gray color differ from dark gray ones in that some light areas have cream or even yellow tones. The silver color is close to light gray, but there is not the slightest hint of yellow or cream in it.

The white hamster has red eyes and gray ears. He has a completely white muzzle and everything else, and if there are cream spots, then this color is already called cream pied.

If a hamster has a brown color, then in sunlight it looks orange. Such a hamster differs from the golden one in that it has dark red eyes and its undercoat is not gray, but light brown. There are spots on the cheeks and between the ears, but they are barely noticeable. This color is also called fox or fox. There is also such a color as smoked golden.

One of the rarest, and therefore one of the most beautiful colors found in our country, is the color called sable. With this color, the color of the tips of the coat can be anything from gray to dark brown, and the roots of the hair are light or cream. A distinctive feature of this color is light rings around the eyes. If the hamster's coat is evenly colored in a light brown shade, then its color is called gray. This hamster has dark red eyes.

But the color of the hamster is not necessarily monophonic. You can meet animals with white spots on their fur. In our country, two types of pattern are common - a white belt and a motley one. In the "white belt" drawing, the head and back of the hamster's body are painted in its main color. On the back, white color is present only in the middle. It seems that the hamster seems to be girded with a white stripe. In a motley hamster, only the middle part of the back remains white. But from the middle of the muzzle, a white stripe departs from him, and the back is painted not with a solid color, but with spots.

The Roborovsky hamster has a pinkish-fawn back color, its abdomen and paws are pure white, and small white spots above the eyes, ears are black with a whitish rim.

But in the Djungarian hamster, which does not belong to the dwarf ones, the back is brownish-gray or ocher-gray, which is sometimes darker on the sides, the belly is light, the border between the color of the back and the belly is clearly expressed. A narrow black stripe runs along the spine of the hamster, it has white paws and blackish ears.

Discovery history
Golden hamsters were first discovered in Syria, and were scientifically described in 1839 by the naturalist Waterhouse. But only single specimens of this animal in museums confirmed that a new species of rodent from the family of hamsters was discovered. Only in 1930, Israeli zoologist Professor Aharoni from Jerusalem managed to catch the first live hamster. It happened near Aleppo, a place in Syria where a new species of hamsters was first discovered.

Professor Aharoni found a female with twelve cubs. But during their transportation to England, only three or four animals managed to survive. From them very soon offspring appeared.

All hamsters kept in captivity in our time are descended from these animals caught in Syria, so we can say that they are all related to each other. In 1938, hamsters from England came to the USA. And after the Second World War, they were used as an ideal laboratory material and returned to Europe in this form.

In a short time, the hamster has gone from being a mere laboratory material to one of the most beloved pets. So, dwarf hamsters for laboratory research are used little. They have recently been "discovered" as near perfect pets and have become very popular. These hamsters quickly get used to people, become tame and willingly communicate with them.

Hamsters have become pets over the past few decades. Currently, there are about a million of them in Germany. There are even more of them in Russia. There are approximately 300 species of rodents in the world. They form the largest class among mammals. Hamsters themselves belong to the suborder of mice and the family of diggers.

The closest relative of domestic hamsters is a large hamster, or, as it is also called, a field hamster. It lives in Europe and Asia. But now this species is on the verge of extinction, although until recently it was the most numerous. Therefore, in many countries these animals are under protection. But this does not help them much, since the change in the environment familiar to the hamster is proceeding at a rapid pace.

The field hamster lives in fields and arable land. But nowadays they are abundantly fertilized with pesticides, herbicides and deeply plowed land, which makes hamsters leave their homes. It is not recommended to keep such a hamster at home.

Another type of hamster is the middle hamster, it is found in Bulgaria, Romania and