Editing Hamster (section)

==History==
Although the Syrian hamster or [[golden hamster]] (''Mesocricetus auratus'') was first described scientifically by [[George Robert Waterhouse]] in 1839, researchers were not able to successfully breed and domesticate hamsters until 1939.<ref name=Barrie>Barrie, Anmarie. 1995. Hamsters as a New Pet. T.F.H. Publications Inc., NJ {{ISBN|0-86622-610-9}}.</ref> The entire laboratory and pet populations of Syrian hamsters appear to be descendants of a single brother–sister pairing. These littermates were captured and imported in 1930 from Aleppo in Syria by [[Israel Aharoni]], a zoologist of the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem|University of Jerusalem]].<ref name="Fritz">Fritzsche, Peter. 2008. Hamsters: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual. Barron's Educational Series Inc., NY {{ISBN|0-7641-3927-4}}.</ref> In Jerusalem, the hamsters bred very successfully. Years later, animals of this original breeding colony were exported to the United States, where Syrian hamsters became a common pet and laboratory animal. Comparative studies of domestic and wild Syrian hamsters have shown reduced genetic variability in the domestic strain. However, the differences in behavioral, chronobiological, morphometrical, hematological, and biochemical parameters are relatively small and fall into the expected range of interstrain variations in other laboratory animals.<ref name="Kuhnen, (2001)">Kuhnen, G. (2002). Comfortable quarters for hamsters in research institutions. In "Comfortable Quarters for Laboratory Animals" Eds V. Reinhardt and A. Reinhardt. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington DC. pp.33-37</ref>