Hamsters

The Human

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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.

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.

Hamsters