The gray hamster is a small animal of the rodent order. The habitat of the animal is very wide, but the number of individuals inside it is gradually decreasing. What does a gray hamster look like? Description of the appearance and lifestyle of this rodent, read below.
The appearance of the animal
The gray hamster is a small rodent, the size of which does not exceed 13 centimeters. The weight of the animal is about three hundred grams. It fits freely in the palm of an adult.
At first glance, it is easy to confuse it with a vole due to round ears and a slightly pointed muzzle. A gray hamster differs from a mouse by a short tail (2-3 centimeters) and legs, which are densely covered with a fluff. But his ears and cheek pouches are large.
This small animal cannot resist predatory enemies, therefore its coloring performs a camouflage function. The hamster's fur is painted in gray shades, sometimes red. A strip along the ridge, from head to tail, is a darkening. Abdomen, paws and tail light, almost white.
Lifestyle
According to its “habits," the gray hamster resembles an ordinary hamster. He loves to settle in the thickets and along the edges of the fields. With the increase in land developed by man, some representatives of the species began to settle in people's homes.
The animal prefers not to build a burrow itself. If he finds an empty “room” left by a mole, mouse or other animals, he will definitely take it. When there is nothing to choose from, the hamster starts construction.
He digs deep burrows, the entrance to which is slightly inclined. The depth of the hole reaches 30-40 centimeters. As a rule, it has several compartments: one is used to store grass, the other for grain, the third for the animal itself.
The gray hamster leads mainly a nocturnal lifestyle. He does not like to depart more than 300 meters from his home. But if you have to go further, then he finds his home without problems.
The period of active reproduction falls in the spring. After the first appearance of the offspring, as a rule, this is up to 10 individuals, the hamster can acquire a second brood, or even two. In winter, the animal falls into shallow hibernation. However, when exposed to favorable conditions, it can reproduce even in the cold period.
What does a hamster eat?
From plant foods, the gray hamster prefers seeds of cereals, sedge, wormwood. Seeds and seeds of cultivated plants, for example, cherries, sunflowers, cherries, watermelons, etc., are also suitable for him. Unlike other members of the family, he often uses soft green parts of plants. He does not tolerate rough food, such as wild grass.
Do not disdain the animal and animal feed. He freely consumes worms, snails, larvae, caterpillars, beetles, and even small mammals. During food searches, he may be overly aggressive and attack mice and gophers. Sometimes the animal climbs into their holes, kills the owners and gradually eats.
In his home there are several pantries, which he tries to score well by winter. Before the cold weather, the hamster manages to collect food three to four times its own weight.
Gray Hamster: Red Book
Typical habitats of the animal are steppes, forest-steppes, fields, deserts and semi-deserts. He avoids humid areas. The species is distributed from Eastern Europe to Western China. Its range includes the area from the northern forest-steppe to northern India, Iran, Pakistan, Jordan.
Despite the wide distribution area, there are relatively few individuals of hamsters. According to the observations of zoologists, even half a century ago, the animal was one of the main inhabitants of the steppe. Now the animal is found infrequently. There are no exact data on its abundance.
In the regional Red Books of Russia, the hamster is mainly assigned the third category. It belongs to rare species with a small number that are sporadically distributed over a wide area. The animal is listed in the Book of Tula, Lipetsk, Chelyabinsk, Samara, Ryazan and other areas.
In the Red Book of Ukraine there is also a gray hamster. The cause of extinction is the same as that of many other inhabitants of the steppe and fields: a change in natural landscapes due to human activities. The use of pesticides and fertilizers in the fields, as well as the fact that the animal lives close to the borders of its range, is negatively affected.