have you ever wondered what your hamster's history was? (logo of youtube channel) or maybe you think that all hamsters have the same origins so today we're going to be talking about each species history Syrian Hamsters Syrian hamsters also known as the golden hamster, teddy bear hamster, panda bear hamster, black bear hamster and fancy bear hamster are the largest domesticated species growing five to seven inches long and weighing around 120 to 200 grams give or take a few they also come in a variety of colors, patterns and types such as banded, tortoiseshell, long haired and golden being the wild type you would normally find them out in the wild Syrian hamsters have these hairless bumpy paws that help them to climb but with their lack of depth perception and short tail they still are not skilled climbers they also have two scent glands located on each side of their hips often mistaken for scabs or moles but these are the glands that helps them to mark their territory or any object they may claim Syrian hamsters originate from Syria hence where they got their common name from and are typically found in agricultural fields in 1930 professor Aharoni and some workmen went to dig in a wheat field located in Aleppo, Syria to look for the syrian hamster. after destroying a majority of the crops they finally came across a mother Syrian hamster with her 11 pups they were captured and placed into a box but not knowing a hamster's natural instinct the mother felt threatened and stressed and began to start culling pups Aharoni was horrified and unfortunately this caused him to kill the mother leaving him and his wife to hand raise 10 of the pups unfortunately, due to the enclosure, he chose and cohabiting solitary animals together only three of the pups made it to sexual maturity the reason for this trip was actually due to Aharoni's colleague who was doing a study that involved the Chinese hamster who which at the time was very hard to breed and even harder to obtain so he wanted a hamster that would be closer to home for him in 1937 Syrian hamsters started making their way from laboratories to the pet trade in the UK and later became more popular in North America by the 1940s and 1950s the Syrian hamster lives a loner life and this was confirmed by Gattermann who never found more than one adult hamster per burrow and the closest observed distance between burrows was 118 meters only coming together during the breeding season which even after that the female chases the male away and once her pups are six to eight weeks of age she also kicks them out of her burrow Chinese Hamsters Chinese hamsters also known as Chinese dwarf hamsters technically are the only true dwarf species as the Phodopus species are scientifically referred to as "small desert hamsters" but we tend to group them as dwarfs because they are smaller than the Syrian species Chinese hamsters tend to be the species that most resembles a mouse rather than a hamster with their long bodies and pointy snout being 3.5 to 5 inches long and weighing around 30 to 50 grams they also are the only domesticated hamster species with the longest tail being one inch long and it is semi-prehensile combined with their hairless paws this makes them the best climber out of the five species so their enclosures should reflect that but keep in mind they still aren't as skilled as a rat or mouse at climbing Chinese hamsters originate from Siberia Mongolia Northern China and Korea and have been observed in all sorts of different types of habitats like the desert areas grasslands and most commonly found in farmlands the Chinese hamster was actually first used as a laboratory animal in 1919 and many attempts to breed in captivity outside of china for labs were made but failed often Chinese hamster ovary cells actually have played a big part in making therapeutic proteins for clinically treating many different human diseases the 1970s is when more people started keeping the Chinese hamster as a pet and successfully breeding them but I actually have found the Chinese hamster to be the least common or the most rarest species people own the Chinese hamster has also been seen living a solitary life in the wild with females displaying high levels of aggressive behavior towards each other therefore it's best to house them alone Winter Whites the winter white also known as the siberian hamster or Djungarian hamster typically is 3.5 inches long and weighing 30 to 60 grams they tend to have a curved snout much smaller ears and a thicker dorsal stripe compared to the campbell's dwarf the Winter White originates from Central Asia and extends over parts of China, Mongolia and western Siberia they've also been found to live in a variety of different habitats like agricultural fields, meadows, grasslands and forests they got their name because of their ability to change their coat coloring from gray to white during winter months this helps them evade any predators this color change is not based on temperature but rather the number of daylight hours this is why many winter whites may not change coat coloring in captivity because of the artificial lighting we have in our homes the late 1970s is when they started making their way to the pet trade in the UK and then by the 1980s they made it to North America but didn't start picking up popularity until the 1990s the winter white has been found taking over pre-existing burrows built by animals like gerbils and marmots which in captivity is why we should include some sort of tunnel starter to help them want to burrow the Winter White unlike the Syrian hamster and Chinese hamster have paws that are covered in fur and are smooth this actually helps to protect their paws from any harsh temperatures they also rather than having scent glands on their hips have one scent gland located on their belly which is more prominent in males than females but both sexes have them the winter white is another hamster who has been found living the loner lifestyle and only living with the opposite sex during breeding season or harsh climates, this is why we should house them alone in captivity Campbell's dwarf the Campbell's dwarf also known as the Russian dwarf or Russian Campbells the Campbell's dwarf tends to have a more pointed snout and more mouse-like ears and a thin dorsal stripe along their back they have an average length of 2.7 to 3 inches long and weigh 30 to 60 grams as well the Campbell's dwarf is a species who very closely resembles the winter white and actually was considered to be the same species up until 1905 which they then were considered to be a subspecies of the winter white until 1984. the Campbell's dwarf originates from Russia, China and central Asia typically preferring grassy plains and desert regions they were found in pet shops in the 1970s and came to north america in the 1980s just like the winter white they have been found to take over pre-existing burrows have those fuzzy feet as well as a scent gland on their belly the Campbell's dwarf is one of the only domesticated species that tends to have a monogamous nature so this makes pairing them more successful but for the majority of the world purebred Campbells do not exist as well as Campbells can live happily alone Hybrids unfortunately as mentioned the majority of the world does not have access to purebred winter whites or purebred Campbells why? this is because of hybrids as you may know the winter white and the Campbell's dwarf are the only two domesticated species capable of interbreeding with each other this is because both of these species share a similar amount of chromosomes making it possible for them to interbreed nobody knows the true reason as to why hybrids came to be perhaps it's because they were confused as the same species for so long or because breeders maybe wanted more color morphs but unfortunately it has come with serious consequences the first starts with the hamster giving birth because the two species are slightly different in size if pups are larger than the mom she is not going to be able to birth them which can lead to a horrible painful death another common health problem is neurological issues these are the videos you see people take who don't know any better and they are of hamsters who are often back flipping and spinning in circles which we call stargazing they also are prone to diabetes and oftentimes have aggression problems unfortunately, there is no way to determine whether you have a hybrid or not because many hybrids can often look more like a winter white or they can look more like a Campbell's some hybrids can even still, change their coat coloring but that still does not make them a winter white chances are if they came from a pet store no matter what they were labelled as you likely have a hybrid hamster the only way to know that you have a purebred is if you are going to an ethical breeder and they are capable of showing you their lineage Roborovski the most recently domesticated as well as the smallest species is the Roborovski hamster which we often shorten to robo robos can grow up to 2.5 to 3 inches long and weigh 20 to 40 grams one of the iconic colorings of the robo would be their sandy colored fur with their bushy white eyebrows giving them a pretty distinct look and just like our other dwarfs they also have fuzzy feet and a scent gland located on their belly robo hamsters originated from Mongolia, China and Russia the robo hamster mainly lives in a habitat that is very sandy and dry and so your enclosure should reflect that and it should have a very large sand bath and often robos that aren't provided a sand bath can look very greasy while the sand bath is very important we still need to provide regular substrate for burrowing as in the wild robos would create burrows in the sand but these burrows would hold together because of the moisture levels found deep below and this is not something we can necessarily provide in captivity i would worry about things molding because you have to keep the sand semi-damp as well as the sand collapsing if it's not consistently damp and crushing the hamster the robo was imported from Holland around 1990 to the UK and was later brought to the U.S in 1998 making them only been in the pet trade for around 23 to 31 years this may explain why robos are so skittish and the hardest species to tame but many can still enjoy human interaction i would consider robos to be the fastest species and when picked up can jump from your hands and zoom off leaving you with a lost and very difficult to find hamster robos are also typically observed as loners or in opposite sex pairs so robos can happily live alone without any ill effects and that is the history of our five domesticated species of hamster hopefully you guys learned something new and possibly can use some of this information to change your enclosure to match the species that you own so i will see you guys in my next video bye

The channel's logo is visible on the screen A woman talking Title screen introducing Syrian hamsters A woman talking Basic information and pictures of the Syrian hamster, including history, size, types, and scent glands A woman talking Picture of the Syrian hamster's natural habitat A woman talking Timeline visuals of Syrian hamsters in labs and the pet trade A woman talking Pictures illustrating solitary lifestyle and scent marking A woman talking Title screen introducing Chinese hamsters A woman talking Pictures of Chinese hamsters and their climbing abilities Picture of their tail and paws A woman talking Habitat visuals: farmlands, deserts, and lab environments A woman talking Title screen introducing Winter White hamsters A woman talking Images showing fur color changes and physical features A woman talking Habitat visuals: fields, forests, and burrows A woman talking Title screen introducing Campbell's Dwarf hamsters A woman talking Pictures comparing features with Winter White hamsters A woman talking Map and habitat images A woman talking Title screen introducing Hybrids A woman talking Pictures of hamsters with patchy fur and unusual behavior A woman talking Title screen introducing Roborovski hamsters A woman talking Pictures of Robo hamsters and their typical habitat A woman talking Images of sand baths and burrowing behavior A woman talking Closing summary screen