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Naturalists first catalogued the Syrian Hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) in the late 1700s. In the 1930s, medical researchers first obtained Syrian hamsters and further domestication led to the Hamster becoming a pet.
Their natural habitat is a small region of Northwest Syria near the city of Aleppo. Two Scottish physicians, Alexander and Patrick Russell, living in the region, wrote about the Syrian Hamster in the book "The Natural History of Aleppo". However, they incorrectly catalogued the Hamsters as the same as European Hamsters. The classification was corrected in 1902 by Alfred Nehring.
The Syrian Hamster was first recognised as a distinct species in 1839. In the 1930s, scientists bred the Hamsters they had obtained and sent their descendants to various other places around the world. Sadly this was all scientific research mostly. In the 1940s, Hamsters became popularised as pets, particularly in the US.
Most hamsters were descended from this first family that were bred from in the 1930s, but in later years, further expeditions to Syria captured more hamsters to increase the genetic diversity for breeders.
Wild hamsters were found to become tame within days after handling by humans, and settled well in captivity.
Israel Aharoni captured the first hamsters in 1931 - a family of Mother and babies. And these were bred from. Within a year there was a colony of 150 hamsters. Parasitologist Saul Adler received some hamsters from this colony and published some of the first research, along with another scientist, in 1931.
In 1931 also, Adler smuggled Syrian hamsters into the Uk in his coat pockets (the mind boggles!) and gave them to the London Zoological Society and the hamsters eventually went to the laboratory of Leonard Goodwin, whose Hamsters became the stock of pet hamsters in the Uk and the descendants from these spread throughout Europe.
There is also a story of a colony of Syrian Hamsters brought to the Uk in 1880 by James Henry Skyne, who was British Consul to Syria. He retired to Edinburgh and brought Syrian Hamsters back with him from Syria. Apparently the colony of hamsters remained alive until 1910 (presumably descendants).
The information, and more, can all be found in this Wikipedia article
en.wikipedia.org
Their natural habitat is a small region of Northwest Syria near the city of Aleppo. Two Scottish physicians, Alexander and Patrick Russell, living in the region, wrote about the Syrian Hamster in the book "The Natural History of Aleppo". However, they incorrectly catalogued the Hamsters as the same as European Hamsters. The classification was corrected in 1902 by Alfred Nehring.
The Syrian Hamster was first recognised as a distinct species in 1839. In the 1930s, scientists bred the Hamsters they had obtained and sent their descendants to various other places around the world. Sadly this was all scientific research mostly. In the 1940s, Hamsters became popularised as pets, particularly in the US.
Most hamsters were descended from this first family that were bred from in the 1930s, but in later years, further expeditions to Syria captured more hamsters to increase the genetic diversity for breeders.
Wild hamsters were found to become tame within days after handling by humans, and settled well in captivity.
Israel Aharoni captured the first hamsters in 1931 - a family of Mother and babies. And these were bred from. Within a year there was a colony of 150 hamsters. Parasitologist Saul Adler received some hamsters from this colony and published some of the first research, along with another scientist, in 1931.
In 1931 also, Adler smuggled Syrian hamsters into the Uk in his coat pockets (the mind boggles!) and gave them to the London Zoological Society and the hamsters eventually went to the laboratory of Leonard Goodwin, whose Hamsters became the stock of pet hamsters in the Uk and the descendants from these spread throughout Europe.
There is also a story of a colony of Syrian Hamsters brought to the Uk in 1880 by James Henry Skyne, who was British Consul to Syria. He retired to Edinburgh and brought Syrian Hamsters back with him from Syria. Apparently the colony of hamsters remained alive until 1910 (presumably descendants).
The information, and more, can all be found in this Wikipedia article
Domestication of the Syrian hamster - Wikipedia
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Some interesting statistics in there. Rodipet also had a project in Syria where the Syrian hamsters are a protected species. They have some videos about it on youtube if you're interested!