A hamster with wild populations in a small part of the Middle East, including Syria. Wild animals burrow and are usually solitary.
Wild-type animals have golden-brown upperparts and a gray to white belly, with fairly large ears and a short tail.
Wild golden hamsters use burrows. Researchers tracked 12 wild females in southern Turkey for 9–28 days during April and May of 2005 and 2006. Individual PIT tags and readers with infrared beams at burrow entrances recorded when each hamster entered or left.
These females left their burrows almost exclusively during daylight, with activity peaks from 6–8 a.m. and 4–7:30 p.m. Little activity was recorded at midday or after dark. Above-ground activity averaged 87 minutes in 24 hours, mostly foraging. In the same study, captive females were nocturnal. The timing of activity between morning and afternoon varied among individuals, while the overall pattern did not change with temperature. Some females skipped either the morning or afternoon activity period on some days.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species · Endangered (EN) · Global
Wild Syrian golden hamsters are recorded from the area around Aleppo in Syria and southeastern Turkey. The Mammal Diversity Database lists the species’ global IUCN Red List category as Endangered (EN).