Hamster gray description. Gray hamster (Cricetulus migratorius)

(lat. Cricetulus migratorius) - a rodent from the genus of gray hamsters.

Description

A mouse-sized rodent with a very short, inconspicuous tail and short legs. Has large cheek pouches. Body length 9.5-13 cm, tail 2-3.5 cm. The color of the fur is gray above, the bottom and tail are light. The eyes are big. The ears are small and protrude slightly from the fur.

Spreading

Distributed from of Eastern Europe through Russia and Central Asia to Mongolia and to western China. The southern edge of its range runs through Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northern India. At first he lived in dry meadows, in the steppes and semi-deserts. Now also lives in farmlands and gardens, and sometimes even in houses. Prefers dry areas with relatively sparse vegetation, avoids forests and damp habitats.

Lifestyle

Sedentary view. Leads a terrestrial-underground way of life typical of most mouse-like rodents. Burrows of a relatively simple structure contain numerous barns in which the animal forms winter supplies. It can hibernate for the winter, although it is mostly inactive during the winter period. Leads a twilight life. Quite an omnivore. Eats seeds, green parts of plants, as well as various invertebrates (orthoptera, darkling beetles, ants, terrestrial mollusks). During the season, the female can bring 7-8 cubs 2-3 times a year. Pregnancy lasts 20 days. The cubs become sexually mature after a few months and have time to give birth to a new generation by the end of the year.

gray hamster. Body length up to 128 mm, tail length up to 37 mm (25-34% of body length). The foot is pubescent to calluses. The color of the top is one-color, from dark to light ash-gray with a fawn tint. The wide black ends of the guard hairs form a darkening along the middle part of the back, which in the darkest-colored forms can take on the character of an indistinct longitudinal black stripe, while in light-colored forms it remains only in a part of the individuals in the form of a darkening of the middle of the back in its posterior section. The coloration of the top in most cases protrudes into the light coloration of the sides with two or three small corners. Ear without a light border, one-color.

The skull is similar to the skull of the Baraba hamster, differing from it in the structure of the anterior ends of the parietal bones, which do not form outgrowths directed forward, and in the auditory capsules somewhat more flattened below.

Fossil remains of gray hamsters are known in the European part of the USSR from the Late Pliocene (Moldavia, Odessa region), but they probably belong, although close, but independent species. In the Pleistocene and prehistoric Holocene found in different places modern range from the Crimea to Novgorod-Seversky in the west and from the Kama Urals to the region of the middle reaches of the river. Ural in the east.

Spreading. Open landscapes of mountains and plains from the eastern Balkans, Asia Minor and Western Asia to Altai, western Mongolia, Northwestern and Central China. In the USSR - from the western borders to the north to the line Chernivtsi, Shepetovka, Zhitomir, Kyiv, Gomel, Orel, Ryazan, Gorky, the right bank of the river. Volga at the latitude of Kazan, the mouth of the river. Cheremshan, Aznakayevo, Ufa, foothills of the southern tip of the Ural Range, northern Aral Sea, southern shore of the lake. Chelkar-Tengiz, the northern part of Bet-Pak-Dala and the Kazakh highlands. Further to the east, the border crosses the river. Irtysh north of Semipalatinsk (village Kanonerka), runs through the southwestern part Altai Territory and along the western and southern foothills of Altai it leaves the USSR. To the south of this border it is known everywhere to the southern borders of the country, but is absent in the territory sandy deserts and in the forests of the Greater Caucasus.

Biology and economic importance. The gray hamster is distributed from the forest-steppe to semi-desert and desert regions and high mountains (in the Pamirs up to 4000 m above sea level). Most common in the plains and mountain steppes. In deserts and semi-deserts, it penetrates through moist areas together with humans. It occurs in places in the forest belt of the mountains of Central Asia and Transcaucasia, especially on lands developed for agriculture, but is absent in the moist lowland forests of the western and eastern Caucasus. In the south, it inhabits human dwellings and outbuildings, meeting even in cities such as Ashgabat, Mary, Frunze, Yerevan, where it lives in multi-storey buildings, up to attic rooms, inclusive, and in some years it numerically prevails over the house mouse.

Like other hamsters, it leads a predominantly twilight and solitary lifestyle. In winter, activity is reduced, but, apparently, it does not hibernate. Self-dug holes have a simple device, most often with two entrances and one chamber; blind minks are often used to store supplies. Willingly settles in abandoned burrows of other rodents or along the edges of residential colonies, as well as in natural shelters formed by voids in stone placers and rock crevices. By autumn, together with mice and voles, it is found in haystacks.

The gray hamster feeds mainly on the seeds of wild and cultivated plants. In the burrows, stocks of grains of cereals, buckwheat, peas, pumpkin seeds, watermelon and sunflower seeds, as well as pits of cherries, plums and other fruits were found. From wild plants the greatest fodder role is played by sweet clover, loach, wheatgrass, bonfires and other cereals; does not store thorny seeds. Stock weight up to 800 g. There are indications that breeding females make small (up to 200 g) summer stocks. Animal food is constantly eaten, especially terrestrial mollusks, caterpillars and insect larvae, ants, beetles and orthoptera; even the remains of scorpions and phalanges were found in the stomachs.

Brings up to 3 litters per year. The number of cubs in a litter is from 3 to 10, most often 5-7 in the west of the range, 7-8 in the east. Young at the age of about 3 weeks begin to settle. Reproduction of arrived animals in the same year in Ukraine was not observed, but in favorable years it is known for Northern Kazakhstan.

Harmful in residential and warehouse premises. AT wild nature even in the years mass breeding"Mouse-like" rodents do not reach the high numbers characteristic of mice and voles, and the harm they cause is relatively small. However, it can be quite noticeable in the steppe shelter belts. Natural carrier of plague and tularemia pathogens.

Geographic variation and subspecies. Towards the south, the dimensions increase, the color of the upper part brightens and turns yellow (especially on the border with the color of the belly), and the darkening along the middle part of the back disappears, remaining only in its rear section. Mountain forms are larger than flat ones, with bluish tones in the color of the top, with more lush fur and long vibrissae. More than 15 subspecies have been described, their number in the fauna of the USSR is actually much less than that given below.

Literature. Mammals of the fauna of the USSR. Part 1. Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Moscow-Leningrad, 1963

Approximately three hundred species of various breeds are included in the Hamster family, which mean not only known species pets, but also wild representatives, about which little information has been collected. The gray hamster is directly related to this family, like its fellow rodent.

The habitat characteristic of these animals is the vastness of the countries of Europe, as well as Russia, Mongolia and Asia. Sometimes a rodent can be found in Iran, Iraq, India and Afghanistan. The gray hamster cannot tolerate high humidity, so it prefers dry areas. Quite often you can meet this animal in the garden, vegetable garden, as well as in places Agriculture.

The gray animal has dimensions from 10 to 13 cm, while the tail length is 4 cm. Maximum weight hamster is 300 gr. The animal has an oblong muzzle, small rounded ears and a pointed nose. On the muzzle of the hamster you can see black shiny eyes. The color of the animal has grey colour while along the entire length of the back there is a strip of a dark gray shade.

The paws and tummy of the hamster are highlighted in white. Quite rarely there are individuals, on the wool of which there are blotches of red color. Wool of this type acts as a kind of protection, since the rodent is subject to attack by absolutely any predators. Because of the coincidence in appearance, the gray hamster is mistaken for a mouse. Main hallmarks are cheek pouches, the presence of a small, almost invisible tail, as well as fluffy gray paws.

Way of life

Gray hamster leads sedentary life, and at the same time prefers loneliness. Due to the development of a large amount of land for agriculture, the rodent began to gradually move to areas close to humans. It is quite typical for the animal to occupy other people's holes, previously created by mice or its relatives, since he himself does not like this kind of occupation.

Sometimes there are cases when a hamster destroys and even eats the owner of the home, but only on condition that its size is much smaller. A hamster can create a hole for himself only when there are no other options. The animal creates housing for itself, while making separate compartments in the hole, which resemble rooms for storing supplies, as well as for sleeping.

Since the gray hamster is a nocturnal inhabitant, it carries out all its active actions, such as hunting, gathering supplies, searching for food, in the dark. It is not typical for the animal to move far from the area it occupies, but if it does move away, it will find its way home with the help of scent. In winter, the hamster hibernates, which it sometimes interrupts to refresh itself. The period of such a state lasts about 5-6 months and depends directly on the weather.

In the natural environment, a gray hamster lives for about 4-5 years, but not many individuals succeed in this, since they are hunted enough a large number of predators.

Behavior of a gray hamster

Due to poor eyesight, the hamster has to navigate by the presence of a variety of smells in space, as well as by various sounds. The animal has a very calm character, and can only be aggressive with ground squirrels, mice, or its brethren. In the event that danger arises, the hamster immediately runs away, because due to its small size, it is unable to resist the predator. As the hamster leads active image life at night, it practically does not come across to the eyes of a person.

The animal is very clean, and in the hole it creates a separate place for the toilet, in which it often cleans. The hamster regularly grooms its fur.

Features of the diet

Most of the diet of a gray hamster is occupied by cereals, namely:

millet,
wheat,
oats,
barley.

Sometimes it can use beans, peas and some types of legumes. In the autumn, the food of the animal consists of:

watermelon seeds,
melons,
zucchini,
pumpkins.

He also prefers vegetables such as beets, carrots and corn. The diet of a gray hamster includes food of animal origin, which consists of:

worms,
rachkov,
mice
shellfish,
ants
Zhukov.

For the entire warm period of the year, the animal stores food several times more than it weighs.

Reproduction features

Hamsters of this species are very productive in terms of offspring.

Pregnancy of the female lasts for 20-25 days. The number of newborn hamsters can reach 10 individuals per litter. Young animals are born absolutely without sight and hearing, while they also have no hair. However, after a few weeks, babies can eat food on their own.

For 20 days, the mother takes care of her cubs, after which they go on an independent life. Puberty also occurs after the expiration of the above period, therefore, young females become capable of producing offspring.

Nevertheless, the gray hamster is listed in the Red Book. Several factors influenced this:

Reducing the amount of territory. Since the areas of wild nature are constantly decreasing and being mastered by humans, which in turn limits the choice of animals natural environment a habitat.
Impact chemical substances that people use during farming processing.
The constant hunting of predators, since quite most of young, do not live to middle age due to the constant attacks of predatory animals.

For agriculture, the gray hamster does absolutely no harm, which cannot be said about other representatives of rodents.

Approximately three hundred species of various breeds are included in the Hamster family, which include not only known types of pets, but also wild representatives, about which little information has been collected. The gray hamster is directly related to this family, like its fellow field rodent.

The habitat characteristic of these animals is the vastness of the countries of Europe, as well as Russia, Mongolia and Asia. Sometimes a rodent can be found in Iran, Iraq, India and Afghanistan. The gray hamster cannot tolerate high humidity, so it prefers dry areas. Quite often you can meet with this animal in the garden, vegetable garden, as well as in places of agriculture.

Appearance Features

The gray animal has dimensions from 10 to 13 cm, while the tail length is 4 cm. The maximum weight of a hamster is 300 g. The animal has an oblong muzzle, small rounded ears and a pointed nose. On the muzzle of the hamster you can see black shiny eyes. The color of the animal has a gray color, while along the entire length of the back there is a strip of a dark gray hue.

The paws and tummy of the hamster are highlighted in white. Quite rarely there are individuals, on the wool of which there are blotches of red color. Wool of this type acts as a kind of protection, since the rodent is subject to attack by absolutely any predators. Because of the coincidence in appearance, the gray hamster is mistaken for a mouse. The main distinguishing features are the cheek pouches, the presence of a small, almost invisible tail, as well as fluffy gray paws.

Way of life

The gray hamster leads a sedentary lifestyle, and at the same time prefers loneliness. Due to the development of a large amount of land for agriculture, the rodent began to gradually move to areas close to humans. It is quite typical for the animal to occupy other people's holes, previously created by mice or its relatives, since he himself does not like this kind of occupation.

In the natural environment, a gray hamster lives for about 4-5 years, but not many individuals succeed in this, since a sufficiently large number of predators prey on them.

Behavior of a gray hamster

Due to poor eyesight, the hamster has to navigate by the presence of a variety of smells in space, as well as by various sounds. The animal has a very calm character, and can only be aggressive with ground squirrels, mice, or its brethren. In the event that danger arises, the hamster immediately runs away, because due to its small size, it is unable to resist the predator. Since the hamster leads an active lifestyle at night, it practically does not catch the eye of a person.

The animal is very clean, and in the hole it creates a separate place for the toilet, in which it often cleans. The hamster regularly grooms its fur.

Features of the diet

Most of the diet of a gray hamster is occupied by cereals, namely:

millet,
wheat,
oats,
barley.

Sometimes it can use beans, peas and some types of legumes. In the autumn, the food of the animal consists of:

watermelon seeds,
melons,
zucchini,
pumpkins.

He also prefers vegetables such as beets, carrots and corn. The diet of a gray hamster includes food of animal origin, which consists of:

worms,
rachkov,
mice
shellfish,
ants
Zhukov.

For the entire warm period of the year, the animal stores food several times more than it weighs.

Reproduction features

Hamsters of this species are very productive in terms of offspring.

Nevertheless, the gray hamster is listed in the Red Book. Several factors influenced this:

Reducing the amount of territory. Since the areas of wild nature are constantly decreasing and being developed by humans, which in turn limits the animals in choosing their natural habitat.
Exposure to chemicals that people use while processing agriculture.
The constant hunting of predators, since a fairly large part of the young do not live to middle age due to the constant attacks of predatory animals.

For agriculture, the gray hamster does absolutely no harm, which cannot be said about other representatives of rodents.

moy-homyachok.ru

Hamster gray(Cricetulus migratorius Pallas, 1773) is a species of the gray hamster genus. Body length up to 123 mm, tail length up to 37 mm (25-34% of body length).
nye shells are one-color, without a light marginal border. The color of the top is one-color, from dark to light ash with a fawn tint. The long black outer ends of the hairs form a darkening along the middle part of the back, which in dark forms looks like an indistinct longitudinal black stripe, while in light forms it is preserved only in some individuals in the form of a darkening of the middle of the back of the back. The coloration of the top often protrudes into the light coloration of the sides with two or three small angles. The soles are covered with hair to calluses. There are 22 chromosomes in the karyotype. Skull with a relatively short and wide nasal region. The upper line of the profile without a noticeable break at the level of the fronto-nasal suture. The size of the gray hamster increases towards the South and in the mountains. In the same direction, as well as towards the East, the color of the upper part brightens, yellowish tones appear on the border with the color of the ventral surface, and the darkening along the middle part of the back disappears, remaining only in its rear section. The mountain forms are larger than the plains, with bluish tones in the color of the top, more lush fur and longer vibrissae. Usually, 10-11 subspecies are distinguished.

The gray hamster is distributed from South and South-Eastern Europe, Asia Minor and Western Asia to Afghanistan, Xinjiang, southern Mongolia (in the mountains up to 4000 m above sea level), from forest-steppe to semi-desert and desert regions and highlands (in the Pamirs up to 4300 m above sea level). Most common in the plains and mountain steppes. Through humid areas it often penetrates into deserts and semi-deserts, often together with humans.
gray ball avoids sandy deserts and alpine forests. In some places it is found in the woodlands of the forest belt of the mountains of Central Asia and Transcaucasia, especially in areas allocated for agricultural land. In the South, it inhabits human and household dwellings. buildings, meeting even in multi-storey buildings major cities(Ashgabat, Bishkek, Yerevan and others) up to the attics, in some years it dominates the house mouse there. Leads a predominantly solitary twilight lifestyle. In winter, activity is reduced, but does not fall into a crust, hibernation. Burrows have a simple device, most often with two, less often three passages and one chamber; for storage of stocks often uses "blind" otnorki. Willingly settles in abandoned burrows of other rodents, along the edges of residential colonies of voles and in natural shelters (stone placers and rocks). It feeds mainly on the seeds of wild (melilot, bindweed, various cereals) and cultivated plants (cereals, buckwheat, peas, watermelon, pumpkin, sunflower, cherry, plum and other fruits). In addition, it constantly eats animal food: mollusks, beetles, ants and other insects, phalanges, scorpions. Stocks weighing up to 800 g were found in the burrows of gray hamsters. Breeding females can make small stocks (up to 200 g) in summer. The gray hamster breeds throughout the warm period of the year, and in stacks and buildings in winter. Profitable animals of the first litters breed in the same year. The number of cubs in a litter is 3-10, in the 3 west of the range it is more often 5 7, in the East - 7-8. A pest of residential and warehouse premises, crops of agricultural crops and steppe forest shelterbelts. A secondary natural carrier of pathogens of a number of diseases, including plague and tularemia.

jbio.ru

Appearance of the animal

gray hamster - little 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 its round ears and slightly pointed muzzle. A gray hamster differs from a mouse in a short tail (2-3 centimeters) and paws, which are densely covered with fluff. But his ears and cheek pouches are large.

This small animal cannot withstand predatory enemies, so its coloring performs a camouflage function. Hamster fur is colored in shades of gray, sometimes red. A stripe along the ridge, from head to tail, there is a darkening. The belly, paws and tail are light, almost white.

Lifestyle

According to its “habits”, the gray hamster resembles an ordinary hamster. He likes to settle in forest thickets and along the edges of fields. With the increase in the lands developed by man, some representatives of the species began to settle in the dwellings of people.

The animal prefers not to build a hole itself. If he finds an empty “room” left by a mole, mouse or other animals, he will definitely occupy it. When there is nothing to choose from, the hamster starts building.

It digs deep holes, 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 is for grain, the third is for the animal itself.

The gray hamster is predominantly nocturnal. He does not like to move more than 300 meters from the dwelling. But if he has to go further, he finds his home without problems.

The active breeding season is in the spring. After the first appearance of offspring, as a rule, it is up to 10 individuals, a hamster can acquire a second brood, or even two. In winter, the animal falls into a shallow hibernation. However, if it gets into favorable conditions, it can multiply even in the cold period.

What does a hamster eat?

From plant food, the gray hamster prefers seeds of cereals, sedges, and wormwood. Seeds and seeds of cultivated plants are also suitable for him, for example, cherries, sunflowers, cherries, watermelons, etc. Unlike other members of the family, he often uses soft green parts of plants. Coarse food, such as wild grass, he does not tolerate.

The animal does not disdain and animal food. It freely consumes worms, snails, larvae, caterpillars, beetles and even small mammals. While searching for food, he can be overly aggressive and attack mice and ground squirrels. Sometimes the animal climbs into their holes, kills the owners and gradually eats them.

There are several pantries in his dwelling, which he tries to fill up well for the winter. Before the onset of cold weather, the hamster manages to collect food three to four times its own weight.

Gray Hamster: Red Book

The typical habitat of the animal are steppes, forest-steppes, fields, deserts and semi-deserts. He avoids wet 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, half a century ago, the animal was one of the main inhabitants of the steppe. Now the animal is rarely seen. There is no exact data on its population.

In the regional Red Books of Russia, the hamster is mainly assigned the third category. It refers to rare species with a small number, which are sporadically distributed over a wide area. The animal is listed in the Book of Tula, Lipetsk, Chelyabinsk, Samara, Ryazan and other regions.

A gray hamster is also found in the Red Book of Ukraine. The reason for extinction is the same as for many other inhabitants of the steppe and fields: a change in natural landscapes due to economic activity person. The use of pesticides and fertilizers in the fields is negatively affected, as well as the fact that the animal lives close to the boundaries of its range.

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External Data

In the description, rodents of a small species reach a length of up to 12-13 cm. In nature, there are larger individuals from the family of gray hamsters, the descriptive characteristics of which indicate their size up to 25 cm in length. Indicators of the average weight of the animal is in the range up to 300 gr.

A distinctive feature is the color of their fluffy fur:

the upper part of the body of the rodent is covered with a monochromatic coat, the shades of which vary from light tones of gray to darker ones - brown with ocher, some individuals have a coat color with shades of red,
in summer period in some individuals, a dark stripe can be traced along the spine in the center of the dorsal region,
the fur on the underside of the body is also monophonic, but lighter in shade.

The color of the animal acts as a kind of disguise of the animal against predators.

In nature, decorative breeds have been bred - Syrian and djungarian hamsters. In appearance, the Syrian breed of rodent and the Dzungaria are very similar to their wild representative. At the same time, the Syrian species is the largest of the decorative hamsters.

The gray hamster is similar in appearance to the upland representative of rodents, but differs from it in a more elongated muzzle and smaller eyes. His ears are small and hidden in a woolen cover. Due to the rounded shape of the auricles, the rodent is sometimes mistaken for a vole. Him large sizes cheek pouches, which is another distinctive feature.

A rodent with a dense physique is very similar to an ordinary mouse.

In a gray hamster, the tail is small, almost imperceptible in length, up to 2.0 - 3.5 cm, but in some members of the family it may be longer than the body itself. Sometimes he is completely bald or covered with a small amount of rare woolen villi. The soles of the paws of the rodent are covered with a thin hairline.

Habitat geography

The gray hamster has received its distribution throughout the eastern European territory, crossing the Russian Central Asian regions, passing to Mongolia and the western part of China. Its southern side of its geography is located in Israeli territory, passing through the Iraqi and Iranian borders, North India and Pakistan.

In the 50-70s of the last century, the gray hamster was considered one of the many species among all mouse-like rodents.

Initially, the habitat of the gray hamster was exclusively dried spaces of meadows, steppes and semi-deserts. Later, rodent colonies began to settle closer to the place of human habitation, including on household plots and industrial agricultural plots. Gray hamsters prefer to select areas with dry conditions as their habitat. climatic conditions where there is sparse vegetation. Animals avoid forest areas and do not settle in places where there is high humidity. They love thickets and field edges.

Every year, more and more cases of resettlement of rodents in human housing began to be recorded.

Regardless of the large geography of distribution, the number of animals is insignificant. It belongs to the few rare species. Biologists associate the reduction in the number of rodents with changes in the natural landscape due to human activities, as well as with the active use of chemicals in agriculture.

Lifestyle

The mouse-like representative is classified as a sedentary animal that leads a lifestyle characteristic of this family. It is possible to meet a rodent at dusk or at night. They do not leave their place of residence for more than 300 m.

Accommodation

Small rodents prefer to stay on the surface of the earth with an alternation of being underground. Animals build burrows with the simplest structure and numerous pantries, which the rodent fills with food supplies for the winter period. Their places of residence are up to 30 cm deep - half a meter and have an entrance located at an angle. In the hole, animals build compartments where the brought grass and grains are stored. Most of the animals in winter time lead an inactive lifestyle, although there are also those individuals who hide in their burrows for the cold season, falling into hibernation.

reproduction

Rodents become sexually mature already after a few months from the moment of birth, therefore, before the end of the year, they can bring offspring. The start of the breeding season is early spring. Under favorable conditions, they continue to breed in cold weather. The female hamster brings in one year 2-3 offspring, numbering up to 8 cubs. The duration of the gestation of the future younger generation is three weeks.

Food

The main part of the nutritious diet of the gray hamster is the vegetable component, although it is considered an omnivorous mammal. As part of its main plant menu:

cereal seeds,
sedge and wormwood,
soft greens, with the exception of coarse wild herbaceous plants.

They can eat sunflowers and do not pass by garden berries - sweet cherries and cherries, I can eat watermelons.

The diet of the mouse-like gray hamster also includes an animal component, which includes:

small invertebrates (ants, molluscs and orthoptera),
worms and caterpillars.

During periods of excessive aggressiveness in the process of searching for food, the hamster is able to attack small mice, sometimes climbing into their holes.

The rodent collects all the food collected in separate compartments of its burrow. To the offensive winter period the amount of its food for wintering in the cold season accumulates in a volume exceeding the weight of the animal itself by 3-4 times.

slonvkvartire.ru

(Cricetulus migratorius) - rodents of dense build the size of a mouse, but with a very short, furry tail and short legs.

They differ from lemmings and pied long ears(the length of the ear is almost equal to the distance between the ear and the eye). They have large cheek pouches.

Gray hamster: size and color

The body length of a gray hamster is 9.5-13 cm, the tail is 2-3.5 cm. The color is gray, the bottom and tail are light. The tail is slightly pubescent or almost naked. The soles of the hind legs are bare or covered with sparse hair, the pads on them are well developed. Paws are white. The ears are small and protrude slightly from the fur.

Gray hamster: habitat

Spreading. inhabits in the European part of Russia north to the Moscow region and the mouth of the Kama, in the Caucasus and south Western Siberia to the foothills of Altai in the east, in the forest-steppes, steppes and settlements. It was brought to Moscow, where it took root in some areas of the city (for example, at the Belorussky railway station). Adheres to dry places, desert depressions, rocks and screes in the mountains, steppe gullies, wastelands and pastures.

They are active mainly at night and at dusk, but sometimes appear during the day.

Gray hamsters have to move a lot in search of food. But short legs do not allow them to run fast, like mice and rats. Therefore, in case of danger, they do not run away, but hide or try to hide in a hole.

AT middle lane, probably falls into winter sleep, but sometimes appears on the surface even at twenty-degree frosts.

Prefers to use the burrows of other rodents, but also builds its own simple ones, one or two meters long, with 2-3 entrances, with a nesting chamber at a depth of 30-40 cm (up to half a meter in winter) and several dead ends-otnorks. Often, natural voids are used. For food, it leaves the hole for 100-200 m (up to 500). In the experiments, the ringed animals returned to their burrow from a distance of up to 700 m.

Tracks of gray hamsters are similar to those of voles, but almost always without a tail imprint. It feeds on cereals, legumes, quinoa and other plants (mainly immature seeds and inflorescences). For the winter, it collects small reserves of seeds (up to 800 g). Despite the harmless appearance, these fluffy babies sometimes act like bloodthirsty predators: a case is known when a hamster got to the bottom of a gopher sleeping in a hole, bit it and dragged the meat and fat piece by piece into its pantry. More often, seeds and bulbs of plants are stored in pantries for the winter.

Unlike their closest relatives - voles - gray hamsters are not able to eat coarse plant foods.

Gray hamster: breeding

breeds from April to September, up to 3 broods of 2-9 cubs per year. Young begin to settle at the age of about three weeks. They usually live alone, although the male and female sometimes remain in the same hole for some time. During the breeding season, they are sometimes active during the day, but keep close to shelters.

In nature, gray hamsters are infected with various infections: plague, tularemia, leptospirosis, pseudotuberculosis.

sibtrophy.ru

. Body length up to 128 mm, tail length up to 37 mm (25-34% of body length). The foot is pubescent to calluses. The color of the top is one-color, from dark to light ash-gray with a fawn tint. The wide black ends of the guard hairs form a darkening along the middle part of the back, which in the darkest-colored forms can take on the character of an indistinct longitudinal black stripe, while in light-colored forms it remains only in a part of the individuals in the form of a darkening of the middle of the back in its posterior section. The coloration of the top in most cases protrudes into the light coloration of the sides with two or three small corners. Ear without a light border, one-color.

Fossil remains of gray hamsters are known in the European part of the USSR from the Late Pliocene (Moldavia, Odessa region), but they probably belong, although close, but independent species. In the Pleistocene and prehistoric Holocene, they were found in different places of the modern range from the Crimea to Novgorod-Seversky in the west and from the Kama Urals to the region of the middle reaches of the river. Ural in the east.

Spreading. Open landscapes of mountains and plains from the eastern Balkans, Asia Minor and Western Asia to Altai, western Mongolia, Northwestern and Central China. In the USSR - from the western borders to the north to the line Chernivtsi, Shepetovka, Zhitomir, Kyiv, Gomel, Orel, Ryazan, Gorky, the right bank of the river. Volga at the latitude of Kazan, the mouth of the river. Cheremshan, Aznakayevo, Ufa, foothills of the southern tip of the Ural Range, northern Aral Sea, southern shore of the lake. Chelkar-Tengiz, the northern part of Bet-Pak-Dala and the Kazakh highlands. Further to the east, the border crosses the river. The Irtysh is north of Semipalatinsk (village Kanonerka), passes through the southwestern part of the Altai Territory and goes beyond the USSR along the western and southern foothills of Altai. To the south of this border, it is known everywhere to the southern borders of the country, but is absent from the territory of sandy deserts and from the forests of the Greater Caucasus.

The gray hamster feeds mainly on the seeds of wild and cultivated plants. In the burrows, stocks of grains of cereals, buckwheat, peas, pumpkin seeds, watermelon and sunflower seeds, as well as pits of cherries, plums and other fruits were found. Of the wild plants, sweet clover, loach, wheatgrass, bonfires, and other cereals play the greatest feeding role; does not store thorny seeds. Stock weight up to 800 g. There are indications that breeding females make small (up to 200 g) summer stocks. Animal food is constantly eaten, especially terrestrial mollusks, caterpillars and insect larvae, ants, beetles and orthoptera; even the remains of scorpions and phalanges were found in the stomachs.

Brings up to 3 litters per year. The number of cubs in a litter is from 3 to 10, most often 5-7 in the west of the range, 7-8 in the east. Young at the age of about 3 weeks begin to settle. Reproduction of newly arrived animals in the same year was not observed in Ukraine, but in favorable years it is known for Northern Kazakhstan.

Harmful in residential and warehouse premises. In the wild, even during the years of mass reproduction, "mouse-like" rodents do not reach the high numbers characteristic of mice and voles, and the harm they cause is relatively small. However, it can be quite noticeable in the steppe shelter belts. Natural carrier of plague and tularemia pathogens.

Literature. Mammals of the fauna of the USSR. Part 1. Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Moscow-Leningrad, 1963

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Status and rarity category

The status of the species in the country and in adjacent regions

Distribution and abundance

Distributed from Hungary and Greece to Altai and from the northern limits of the forest-steppe to Iran and Afghanistan. Found throughout the area Tula region, but few everywhere. Yu. A. Myasnikov noted this species in the Zaoksky, Yasnogorsky, Leninsky, Belevsky regions, as well as in many regions of the southeastern part of the region. AT last years gray hamsters were caught in artificial tree plantations in a number of forest-steppe regions by employees of the Tula regional SES: in 1999 and 2003. in the Efremovsky district in the env. the village of Lugovka (1 individual/100 trap-days) and in 2003 in the Novomoskovsky district in the env. n. Novaya Derevnya village (4 individuals/100 trap-days).

Habitats and biology

populates steppe areas, crops, can be found in settlements. Digs deep minks with chambers for food reserves. Activity is predominantly nocturnal. Makes two broods of 9 cubs in each year. For the winter falls into shallow hibernation. Hamsters hibernating in stacks, stacks, human buildings are active throughout the winter. It feeds on various wild and cultivated plants and their seeds. It rarely eats insects and even small mammals.

Limiting factors and threats

The main reason for the rarity is being near the border of the range.

Protective measures taken and necessary

The species is listed in the IUCN Red List, the Red Book of the Tula Region.

A photo

N. N. Usik.

Compilers

O. V. Shvets.

Sources of information

1. Myasnikov, 1977; 2. Aralov et al., 1982; 3. Miller et al., 1990; 4. Survey data.

redbooktula.com

Gray hamster - Cricetulus migratorius Pallas

Appearance. Small (slightly larger than a mouse) short-tailed animal. Body length 96-128 mm, tail 20-35 mm. The ears are uniform, relatively large, rounded, the muzzle is sharp, the foot is slightly pubescent, but the finger tubercles are clearly visible, the tail is covered with short hair, there are no transverse rings on it. The dorsal side is smoky-gray, dark gray or brownish-gray, in some cases reddish-sandy. A darkening is sometimes observed on the head and along the ridge, which, however, does not turn into a clear stripe. The belly is light gray or white. Paws are white. The tail is either light or slightly bicolored.

Spreading. The southern half of the European part of the former USSR, the Caucasus, the south of Western Siberia, Kazakhstan, middle Asia(map 178).

Lifestyle. An inhabitant of forest-steppes, steppes, semi-deserts and deserts, it rises high into the mountains. Inhabits cereal and cereal-wormwood steppes, semi-fixed sands, areas of dry mountain steppes, agricultural lands (crops, fields, vegetable gardens). Often lives in human buildings, is found even in big cities. It feeds mainly on the seeds of wild (cereals, wormwood, sedges, astragalus) and cultivated plants (pits of cherries, sweet cherries and other crops, grains of cereals, sunflower seeds, pumpkins and watermelons). From animal feed highest value have terrestrial mollusks, beetles, locusts, ants, caterpillars and larvae. More often than other hamsters eats green parts of plants. Makes significant reserves for the winter. Active during twilight and night hours. Burrows comparatively simple device, usually with two inlets, one nesting chamber and blind otnorks that play the role of pantries. The number is high in places. Reproduction begins in March - April, the female brings two or three litters per season, pregnancy, apparently, about 19 days, in a brood from three to ten (usually seven to eight) cubs. Young of the first litter participate in breeding in the same year. It hibernates only at the northern border of its range and high in the mountains.

Economic value. Causes damage in storage and residential areas.

Similar types. It differs from voles by the short, even pubescence of the tail and the absence of transverse rings on it, from the Eversmann hamster by the absence of a throat spot, from the long-tailed hamster by monochromatic ears, and from the Mongolian hamster by a longer tail.

Card 178

Lifestyle

The gray hamster is predominantly nocturnal. He does not like to move more than 300 meters from the dwelling. But if he has to go further, he finds his home without problems.

What does a hamster eat?

There are several pantries in his dwelling, which he tries to fill up well for the winter. Before the onset of cold weather, the hamster manages to collect food three to four times its own weight.

Gray Hamster: Red Book

In the regional Red Books of Russia, the hamster is mainly assigned the third category. It belongs to rare species with a small number, which are sporadically distributed over a wide area. The animal is listed in the Book of Tula, Lipetsk, Chelyabinsk, Samara, Ryazan and other regions.

A gray hamster is also found in the Red Book of Ukraine. The reason for extinction is the same as for many other inhabitants of the steppe and fields: a change in natural landscapes due to human economic activity. The use of pesticides and fertilizers in the fields is negatively affected, as well as the fact that the animal lives close to the boundaries of its range.