hamster

Any of a group of burrowing rodents with a thickset body, short tail, and cheek pouches to carry food. Several genera are found across Asia and in southeastern Europe. Hamsters are often kept as pets. (Genera include Cricetus and Mesocricetus, family Cricetidae.)

Species include the European and Asian black-bellied or common hamster (C. cricetus), about 25 cm/10 in long, which can be a crop pest and stores up to 90 kg/200 lb of seeds in its burrow. The golden hamster (M. auratus) lives in western Asia and southeastern Europe. All golden hamsters now kept as pets originated from one female and 12 young captured in Syria in 1930.

Hamsters are the third most commonly used laboratory animal. In 1998, 1 million were killed in the USA alone.