History
of HamstersHistory
of Hamsters|
Campbells Phodopus Campbelli |
Campbells are native to Southern Siberia, Northern China, Central Asia and Mongolia. According to the Hamster FAQ: "The Dwarf Campbells Russian, Winter White Russian and Chinese were all introduced to the pet market in the United Kingdom in the 1970s, and the Roborovski hamster came from Holland into the UK in 1990. " |
| Syrian Mesocricetus auratus |
 The
Syrian Hamster, Mesocricetus auratus,
commonly called the Golden hamster, is a popular pet in Singapore and
has followings in many countries. The history of this hamster,
especially of how it became such a smash hit as a pet, seems to differ
depending on who is telling the story. The earliest description seems
to have been that by Alexander Russell in 1737. Later, in 1930, Saul
Alder, a parasitologist, asked a zoologist, Aharoni, to look for a
better animal model for his research (he was, at that time, using
Chinese hamsters). Aharoni found a mother with 11 pups. Coincidentally,
Aharoni was probably the first person to see a syrian mother kill her
pups (hamster infanticide) for that was what she did with the first pup
that approached her. She was immediately removed from her pups and the
babies were hand reared. At this time, the babies had not opened their
eyes. Three of these pups survived to reproduce and within a year,
there were 150 hamsters. Hamsters were first imported into the United
States in 1938. They were used in research until Albert Marsh (a then
unemployed highway engineer), won his first hamster in a bet. He began
breeding them and promoting them as pets and laboratory animals. He is
the author of The Hamster Manual and founded the Gulf Hamstery and
Marsh Enterprises. The Gulf Hamstery closed in the 1950s. There were
subsequent live captures of syrian hamsters but almost all of the
domesticated hamsters in the world today are descendents of the three
hamsters captured in the 1930s.In Singapore... I have no idea when hamsters were imported into Singapore. If you know, please do email me. When I had my first hamster, there weren't many colours available. I remember looking hard for a grey and tried to find out how to breed one, when I realized that the genes weren't even present in our gene pool. Today, recent imports of hamsters have contributed to that gene pool and we have black, grey, black eyed whites, and many more colour variations. |
| Roborovski Phodopus roborovskii |
Roborovski hamsters are native to China, Mongolia and Russia. This hamster was captured in 1894. According to the Hamster FAQ: "The Dwarf Campbells Russian, Winter White Russian and Chinese were all introduced to the pet market in the United Kingdom in the 1970s, and the Roborovski hamster came from Holland into the UK in 1990. " |
| Winter
White Phodopus sungorus sungorus |
 
According to the Hamster FAQ: "The Dwarf Campbells Russian, Winter White Russian and Chinese were all introduced to the pet market in the United Kingdom in the 1970s, and the Roborovski hamster came from Holland into the UK in 1990. " |
