Hamsters

The Human Link

The history of the relationship between hamsters and humans is fascinating and unusual. They were first brought to the attention of the West by Alexander and Patrick Russell who described them in their book The Natural History of Aleppo in 1756. H owever a real hamster was not seen in Europe until 1839, when George Waterhouse, a British naturalist, returned from his travels with the skull and skin of a golden hamster. He took it to the Zoological Society of London where it was classified and given its Latin name. Forty years later a retired gentleman, James Henry Skeene, kept a small colony at his home in Edinburgh. Few others were interested in these little animals and, after 30 years, this rather inbred colony died out.

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Hamsters