Golden hamster
Scientific name: Mesocricetus auratus (Waterhouse, 1839)
Overview
The golden hamster or Syrian hamster is a rodent belonging to the hamster subfamily, Cricetinae. Their natural geographical range is in an arid region of northern Syria and southern Turkey. Their numbers have been declining in the wild due to a loss of habitat from agriculture and deliberate elimination by humans. Thus, wild golden hamsters are now considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. However, captive breeding programs are well established, and captive-bred golden hamsters are often kept as small house pets. They are also used as scientific research animals.
From the Wikipedia article “Golden hamster”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Conservation status
Endangered on the IUCN Red List, as recorded on Wikidata, citing The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2.
Where it lives
The Catalogue of Life records it in: Europe & Northern Asia (excluding China).
Common names
Names in other languages (10)
- Arabic
- قداد ذهبي
- Chinese
- 敘利亞倉鼠
- French
- hamster doré
- German
- Goldhamster, Syrischer Goldhamster
- Indonesian
- Hamster Suriah
- Japanese
- ゴールデンハムスター
- Persian
- همستر طلائی
- Portuguese
- Hamster-sírio
- Russian
- Сирийский хомячок
- Spanish
- Mesocricetus auratus
Related animals
Sources
-
Catalogue of Life — scientific name, classification, common names and range.
Version 2026-09-11, CC BY 4.0.
This species in the Catalogue of Life.
Citation
Bánki, O., Roskov, Y., Döring, M., Ower, G., Hernández Robles, D. R., Plata Corredor, C. A., Stjernegaard Jeppesen, T., Örn, A., Pape, T., Hobern, D., Garnett, S., Little, H., DeWalt, R. E., Miller, J., Orrell, T., Aalbu, R., Abbott, J., Aedo, C., Aescht, E., et al. (2026). Catalogue of Life (Version 2026-09-11). Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgz5n Source database: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
- GBIF — species page and recorded occurrences.
- Wikidata — conservation status, names in other languages. Q204175, CC0 1.0.
- Wikipedia — overview, from the article “Golden hamster”, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo — TetraHydroCannabinol, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
Last updated: 4 October 2026