Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Descriptive


Hamsters

            Hamster are small, with tails shorter than body length, have small ears, short legs and wide feet. Their thick, silky fur, which can be long or short, can be black, gray, honey, white, brown, yellow, or red depending on the species, or a mix of any of those colors.

            According to Wikipedia, two species of hamsters belonging to the genus Phodopus and also two of the species of the genus Cricetulus, have a dark stripe down the head to tail. The species of genus Phodopus are the smallest, with bodies 5.5 to 10.5 cm  long; the largest is the common hamster, measuring up to 34 cm long, not including a short tail of up to 6 cm. The Angora hamster, also known as the long-haired or Teddy Bear hamster, which is a type of the Syrian Hamster is the second largest hamster breed, measuring up to 18 cm or 7 inches long.

            Hamsters have poor eyesight; they are nearsighted and colorblind. However, they have an acute sense of smell and can hear extremely well. They are also particularly sensitive to high-pitched noises and can hear and communicate in the ultrasonic range.

            The tail of the hamster is sometimes difficult to see, because it is not very long with exception of the chinese dwarf hamster whose tail is the same length as the body. Hamstersare hindgutfermenters and must eat their own feces in order to digest their food a second time. This practice is called coprophagy and is necessary for the hamster to obtain the proper nutrients from its food.

            Hamsters are omnivorous. They eat most things, and although they should regularly be given a diet of normal hamster food, it is enjoyable for both the owner and the hamster to experiment with other things, such as vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts. Hamsters carry food in their spacious cheek pouches to their underground storage. Because they carry their foods in their cheeks it makes their heads double in size.

            There are many kinds of hamsters, like Syrian Hamster, most popular kind of hamster kept as a pet. They are sometimes also called "Golden hamster". Syrian hamsters have an average lifespan of two to three years. Other kinds of hamster is Dwarf Hamster, are also very popular as pets and is a smaller breed of hamster. Dwarf hamsters can be more difficult to handle because they are very fast and active. There are various kinds of the Dwarf species. Common types of dwarf hamsters kept as pets are Russian dwarf hamsters, Roborovski's hamster,  Winter White Russian hamsters and Chinese hamsters. Chinese hamster are unique becuase of their tail.

Russian dwarf hamsters are born with one of four coat types: normal, satin, wavy and rex.

Roborovski's hamsters the smallest of all hamsters, averaging under an inch at birth, and (rarely) three inches during adulthood.
Winter White Russian hamsters has thick dark grey dorsal stripe and furry feet.


Chinese Hamster tail is the same length as the body.


          
            There are many other different breeds of hamster from around the world, but they are generally not kept as pets. These hamsters include Turkish Hamster, Georgian Hamster or Ciscaucasian Hamster, Romanian Hamster, European Hamster or the Common Hamster, Ladak Hamster, Tibetan Hamster, Long-tailed Hamster, Armenian Hamster or gray Hamster, Sokolov’s Hamster and Greater Long-tailed Hamster or Korean Hamster.

Turkish Hamster is less popular than the Syrian or "Golden" Hamster due to its more aggressive temperament.
Georgian Hamster yellow and silver gray based colors.
The European hamster has brown dorsal fur with white patches. Chest and belly are black. The tail is short and furred. It is much larger than the Syrian or dwarf hamsters commonly kept as pets. The European Hamster weighs 220-460 g (8-16 ounces) and can grow to 20-35 cm (8-14 inches) long with a tail of 40-60 mm (1.5-2.3 inches).
Ladak Hamster
Tibetan Hamster
Long-tailed Hamster
Armenian Hamster
Sokolov Hamster
Greater Long-tailed or Korean Hamster

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