A wild hamster that carries plants and grains in its cheek pouches and stores them underground.
Adults have light brown to gray fur on the back, a dark belly and white patches on the head and shoulders.
At a farm-like site in Alsace, France, 32 female hamsters received one of four diets: wheat, wheat–soybean, rapeseed–fava bean, or maize–lablab bean. Winter hibernation behavior tracked food energy more closely than nutrient balance; females on lipid-rich diets had greater body mass before breeding.
In a semi-natural enclosure, females on legume–oilseed mixes produced about twice as many pups as those on wheat or maize–lablab diets, and their pups grew faster. The wheat group also reproduced when weeds and invertebrates added food to the plot. The findings show how crops and other edible plants together can shape the food available to farmland hamsters.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
In an Alsace semi-natural enclosure, legume–oilseed crop mixes supported higher reproductive output and faster pup growth than the other diets tested. The authors identify crop associations as a possible conservation option for farmland. The controlled study did not measure survival or recovery of free-ranging populations. It does not report a current global category, assessment date, or population trend.