11/21/2023 0 Comments Are gerbils nocturnalWhether you choose a gerbil or hamster as a pet, you can look forward to having a very cute pet to look at!Įven better, gerbils and hamsters can also exhibit as much visual variety in their coat color, coat type and eye color as cats and dogs can! Gerbil Colors They don’t tend to stand up on their back legs and are more fond of just running around. Hamsters are stockier in their body and legs than gerbils are. Hamsters also have very distinctive cheeks – they can stuff them so full their heads look like they are literally twice as large as they really are! Hamsters don’t have tails, although they do have little tail nubs. In the wild, the gerbil would store extra fat reserves in the tail. These gerbils have – you guessed it – wider tails without any hair on them. And sizable back feet to stand up, look around, or run away with! They also have large eyes and a long furry tail.Ī newer pet gerbil is called the fat-tailed gerbil. Mongolian gerbils have big ears to hear any hungry predator who tries to creep up on them. You can read more about where hamsters come from in this guide. It was after this that these little rodents really became popular as household pets. Hamsters were imported to America in 1936. However, Russian Dwarf hamsters were first collected in Mongolia by a man called Charles Campbell. They were first found and studied by a biologist called Israel Aharoni. These small rodents are found in the desert, originally in Syria. Teddy bear hamsters don’t come from the same place as gerbils. You can read more about gerbil history here. It wasn’t long till they made their way to America and Western Europe as pets. The scientist Henri Milne-Edwards gave these little rodents their official scientific name.Īlthough they were initially bred for scientific purposes, they were soon common pets in China. Mongolian gerbils were first found and sent to the French Museum of Natural History by a Catholic missionary called Father Armand David. Unsurprisingly, these gerbils come from Mongolia in East Asia! They are found in the grassy plains and steppes. But, we will focus on the Mongolian gerbil, as this is the one most commonly kept as a pet. There are around 110 species of gerbil in the world that we know of. So, let’s find out more about where the hamster and gerbil come from. But, it can be really interesting to learn, especially if kids will be helping you care for your new pet. Gerbil vs Hamster HistoryĪn animal’s history might not impact whether you choose to buy one. Some of these types of hamster are more similar to gerbils than others. There are several dwarf hamster species including the Campbell’s dwarf, the Roborovski, the Djungian, the Russian Winter White and the Chinese hamster. There are a few more varieties of hamster that are commonly kept as pets. These gerbils tend to be hardy and resilient. The species of gerbil most commonly kept as a pet is the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus). One of the first questions to tackle is: is a gerbil a hamster? These two terms can be used so interchangeably it really is a fair question!Įven though they do have lots of similarities, a gerbil or hamster are not one and the same – they are two different rodent species. What is the Difference Between a Gerbil and a Hamster? Let’s start off by outlining the difference between a hamster and a gerbil.
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