Golden hamster
Amazing fact
Golden hamsters rub their flanks against surfaces to leave their scent.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Golden hamsters rub their flanks against surfaces to leave their scent.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Golden hamster
- Scientific name
- Mesocricetus auratus
- Japanese name
- ゴールデンハムスター
- Group
- Land mammals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Rodentia
- Family
- Cricetidae
- Genus
- Mesocricetus
Golden hamsters kept as pets belong to this same species.
In the wild it lives in just a small area of the Middle East, centered on Syria.
Its back is golden brown and its belly gray or white; it has large ears and a short tail.
It spends the day in its burrow, wakes at dusk, and spends the night gathering food to store in its burrow.
How the Golden hamster lives
They eat seeds, nuts and insects. They usually live alone and defend territories. In winter they have a period of torpor.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Size
- 13–13.5 cm
- Weight
- 100–125 g
- Lifespan
- up to 4 years in captivity
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)
Where the Golden hamster has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ゴールデンハムスター
- 简体中文
- 叙利亚仓鼠
- 繁體中文
- 敘利亞倉鼠
- 한국어
- 시리아햄스터
- Español
- Hámster sirio
- Français
- Hamster doré
- Deutsch
- Goldhamster
- Português (Brasil)
- Hamster-sírio
- Italiano
- Criceto dorato
- العربية
- قداد ذهبي
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Hamster Suriah
- Русский
- Сирийский хомячок
- Türkçe
- Heybeli Sıçan
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Mesocricetus auratusChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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