Animalia > Chordata > Mammalia > Rodentia > Cricetidae > Mesocricetus > Mesocricetus auratusMesocricetus auratus (golden hamster)Synonyms: Cricetus auratus The golden hamster, or Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) is a member of the subfamily Cricetinae, the hamsters. In the wild, they are now considered vulnerable. Their natural geographical range is limited to the north of Syria and the south of Turkey, in arid habitats. Their numbers have been declining due to loss of habitat caused by agriculture and deliberate destruction by humans. However, captive-breeding programs are well established, and captive-bred Syrian hamsters are often kept as pets. They are also used as scientific research animals throughout the world. |
Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) Unique (100) Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) Unique & Vulnerable (100) ED Score: 11.65 EDGE Score: 3.92 |
| Adult Weight [1] | 105 grams | | Birth Weight [1] | 2 grams | | Male Weight [3] | 108 grams |  | | Diet [2] | Carnivore (Vertebrates), Frugivore, Granivore, Herbivore | | Diet - Endothermic [2] | 10 % | | Diet - Fruit [2] | 30 % | | Diet - Plants [2] | 30 % | | Diet - Seeds [2] | 30 % | | Forages - Ground [2] | 100 % | | | Female Maturity [1] | 48 days | | Male Maturity [1] | 48 days | | | Gestation [1] | 16 days | | Litter Size [1] | 9 | | Litters / Year [1] | 3 | | Maximum Longevity [1] | 4 years | | Nocturnal [4] | Yes | | Snout to Vent Length [3] | 7 inches (18 cm) | | Weaning [1] | 20 days |
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| Name |
Countries |
Ecozone |
Biome |
Species |
Report |
Climate |
Land
Use |
|
Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests |
Greece, Turkey, Macedonia |
Palearctic |
Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Anatolian conifer and deciduous mixed forests |
Turkey |
Palearctic |
Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub |
|
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|
 |
|
Arabian Desert and East Sahero-Arabian xeric shrublands |
Saudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Egypt , Iraq, Jordan, Syria |
Palearctic |
Deserts and Xeric Shrublands |
|
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|
|
|
Azerbaijan shrub desert and steppe |
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran |
Palearctic |
Deserts and Xeric Shrublands |
|
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|
|
|
Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests |
Iran, Azerbaijan |
Palearctic |
Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests |
|
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|
Caucasus mixed forests |
Georgia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Armenia |
Palearctic |
Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests |
|
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|
|
|
Central Anatolian deciduous forests |
Turkey |
Palearctic |
Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests |
|
|
|
|
|
Central Anatolian steppe |
Turkey |
Palearctic |
Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands |
|
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Central Persian desert basins |
Iran, Afghanistan |
Palearctic |
Deserts and Xeric Shrublands |
|
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Eastern Anatolian deciduous forests |
Turkey |
Palearctic |
Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests |
|
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|
|
|
Eastern Anatolian montane steppe |
Iran, Turkey, Armenia |
Palearctic |
Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands |
|
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|
|
|
Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests |
Turkey, Jordan, Israel, Syria |
Palearctic |
Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub |
|
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|
Elburz Range forest steppe |
Iran |
Palearctic |
Temperate Coniferous Forests |
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|
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Euxine-Colchic broadleaf forests |
Turkey |
Palearctic |
Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests |
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|
Kuh Rud and Eastern Iran montane woodlands |
Iran |
Palearctic |
Montane Grasslands and Shrublands |
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Mesopotamian shrub desert |
Iraq, Syria, Jordan |
Palearctic |
Deserts and Xeric Shrublands |
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Middle East steppe |
Syria, Iraq |
Palearctic |
Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands |
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Northern Anatolian conifer and deciduous forests |
Turkey |
Palearctic |
Temperate Coniferous Forests |
|
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|
Red Sea Nubo-Sindian tropical desert and semi-desert |
Egypt, Jordan, Saudia Arabia, Yemen, Oman |
Palearctic |
Deserts and Xeric Shrublands |
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South Iran Nubo-Sindian desert and semi-desert |
Iran, Iraq, Pakistan |
Palearctic |
Deserts and Xeric Shrublands |
|
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Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests |
Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel |
Palearctic |
Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub |
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Zagros Mountains forest steppe |
Iran |
Palearctic |
Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests |
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| Name |
Location |
Endemic |
Species |
Website |
|
Irano-Anatolian |
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Turkmenistan |
No |
|
 |
|
Mediterranean Basin |
Algeria, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Portugal, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey |
No |
|
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Attributes / relations provided by ♦ 1de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774 ♦ 2Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027 ♦ 3Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109 ♦ 4Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org♦ 5International Flea Database♦ 6Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database |
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0
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