Chinese hamster

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Chinese hamster
Chinesedsaffa.jpg
A wild-type Chinese hamster
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Cricetidae
Subfamily: Cricetinae
Genus: Cricetulus
Species:
C. griseus
Binomial name
Cricetulus griseus
Milne-Edwards, 1867

The Chinese hamster (Cricetulus griseus or Cricetulus barabensis griseus) is a rodent in the genus Cricetulus of the subfamily Cricetidae that originated in the deserts of northern China and Mongolia. They are distinguished by an uncommonly long tail in comparison to other hamsters, most of whose tails are stubby. Chinese hamsters are primarily nocturnal; however, they will stay awake for brief periods, in between naps, throughout the day.

Contents

Description

Chinese hamsters grow to between 82 and 127 mm in body length (tail length 20–33 mm) and weigh 1.7 grams at birth, then as they get older can weigh 30–45 grams. Males have a fairly large scrotum relative to their body size. Their body proportions, compared to other hamster species – most of which tend to be compact – appear "long and thin" and they have (for a hamster) a relatively long tail. They live two to three years on average.

The wild color is brown with a black stripe down the spine, black and grey ticks and a whitish belly. This coloration, combined with their lithe build and longer tail, makes them look "mousy" to some eyes and, in fact, they are members of the group called ratlike hamsters.

Chinese hamsters and Chinese striped hamsters are solitary, like most hamsters other than the three Phodopus species. [a]

Taxonomy

The taxonomic names of the Chinese hamster and the closely related Chinese striped hamster are unsettled. Some authorities consider the Chinese hamster (C. griseus) and the Chinese striped hamster (C. barabensis) different species, [1] whereas others classify them as subspecies, [2] in which case the Latin name of the Chinese hamster becomes C. b. griseus, and the Chinese striped hamster becomes C. b. barabensis. [3]

Domestication

Chinese hamsters were first domesticated as lab animals, but have mostly fallen out of use. They were subsequently kept as pets (although not the pet hamster species commonly kept in North America).

Lab animals

Early use of Chinese hamsters as laboratory animals included research of pneumocci [4] and visceral leishmaniasis. [5] [6] Inbred lines of Chinese hamsters were found to spontaneously develop diabetes, causing it to be used as model organism. [4] [7] Cells from the Chinese hamster's ovaries were isolated in 1958 and cultured in vitro. They were chosen due to their low number of chromosomes which allowed for easier observation. [8] Since then, Chinese hamster ovary cells are a commonly used tool in biological and biochemical research as well as production platform for biopharmaceuticals. [9]

Pets

Female Chinese hamsters were generally kept as pets, and males used solely for breeding. Being naturally solitary, they tend to be aggressive if kept in enclosures which are too small, or are inhabited by other hamsters. They can be nippy, but quickly become tame. Once successfully tamed, they are easily handled. Chinese hamsters can be quite nervous as youngsters but, once they are tamed, can display an endearing calm and gentle character. One of their endearing habits is clinging to a handler's finger with all four paws – rather like a harvest mouse on a corn stalk.

Prohibitions

Some U.S. states, such as California and New Jersey, regard the Chinese hamster as a pest or an exotic animal, and require a special permit to own, breed or sell them. [10]

Colour varieties

Besides the wild colour, a well-known variation in domesticated breeds is the "spotted white" or "dominant spot" Chinese hamster, which often is grayish-white all over, with only a dark stripe on its back.

As yet, there are only three colour varieties among domesticated Chinese hamsters: [10]

Normal and dominant spot are readily available in the pet trade throughout the United Kingdom, whereas the black-eyed white is extremely rare; only a few are owned by hobbyist breeders in the U.K.

In media

The Chinese dwarf hamster is the animal of choice featured in the speculative evolution project Hamster's Paradise.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Confusingly, the name dwarf hamsters includes several other species in the same genus Cricetulus (Tibetan dwarf hamster, Kam dwarf hamster, Lama dwarf hamster, long-tailed dwarf hamster, grey dwarf hamster, Sokolov's dwarf hamster) as well as hamsters in the genus Phodopus , (Russian dwarf hamster, Campbell's dwarf hamster, Roborovski dwarf hamster). Often dwarf hamster is used to refer only to Phodopus . All of these hamsters are in the subfamily Cricetinae .

References

  1. ↑ "Cricetulus". The NCBI taxonomy database.
  2. ↑ "SRS db query re 'Chinese hamster'". Columbia University . Retrieved 16 August 2009.[ dead link ]
  3. ↑ Tofts, Russell. "The Chinese hamster (Cricetulus barabensis)". napak.com. Archived from the original on 20 July 2006.
  4. 1 2 Feeney, William P. (2012), "The Chinese or Striped-Back Hamster", The Laboratory Rabbit, Guinea Pig, Hamster, and Other Rodents, pp. 907–922, doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-380920-9.00035-3, ISBN   978-0-12-380920-9, PMC   7149763
  5. ↑ Meleney, H. E. (1925), "The Histopathology of Kala-Azar in the Hamster, Monkey, and Man", The American Journal of Pathology, 1 (2): 147–168.11, PMC   1931682 , PMID   19969637
  6. ↑ Patton, W. S.; Hindle, Edward (1926), "Notes on three new parasites of the striped hamster ( Cricetulus griseus )", Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Containing Papers of a Biological Character, 100 (704): 387–390, doi:10.1098/rspb.1926.0059
  7. ↑ Meier, H.; Yerganian, G. A. (1959), "Spontaneous Hereditary Diabetes Mellitus in Chinese Hamster (Cricetulus griseus). 1. Pathological Findings", Experimental Biology and Medicine, 100 (4): 810–815, doi:10.3181/00379727-100-24786, PMID   13645727
  8. ↑ TJIO JH; PUCK TT (1958), "Genetics of somatic mammalian cells. II. Chromosomal constitution of cells in tissue culture", The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 108 (2): 259–268, doi:10.1084/jem.108.2.259, PMC   2136870 , PMID   13563760
  9. ↑ Walsh, Gary; Walsh, Eithne (2022), "Biopharmaceutical benchmarks 2022", Nature Biotechnology, 40 (12): 1722–1760, doi:10.1038/s41587-022-01582-x, PMC   9735008 , PMID   36471135
  10. 1 2 Lianne, McLeod (15 August 2018). "Chinese striped hamsters as pets". The Spruce Pets; or Lianne, McLeod. "Chinese hamsters". About.com. Archived from the original on 2016-08-13.
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