Strong Incisors
Hamsters use their powerful set of incisors to
break apart the hard covers of seeds and nuts as well as to scare predators for
escaping.Because of the hard wear onthese teeth, they continue to grow throughout
the hamster’s life. Hence it isimportant in the way the two incisor teeth that are present in both the upper
and lower jaws meet. The hamster will have difficulty in eating if the teeth
are misaligned. It may even starve as a consequence.
Nocturnal animals
Nocturnal animals are animals which sleeps during the morning hours and only
come out in search for food only during the night.
Hamsters are pretty much defenseless. Like most
rodents, they faced many dangers in the wild as they are small and vulnerable
to predators. Hence, they rely mainly on staying out of sight during the
daytime and only emerge from its burrow at dusk. They usually come out to seek
food, as water is readily available when dewdrops form at the entrance of their
burrow.
Pouches and Paws
Hamsters have special puoches in their mouths, which are actually
folds within their cheeks. These pouches are used to transport food back into
their nest when they are outside, and these pouches may extend back in the
mouth to as far back as their shoulders.
Domestic hamsters, liketheir wild counterparts, behaved in a similar manner,
often accumulating a large store of food in their nests. This behaviour is
important for the wild hamsters as they live in considerably arid parts of the
world where food is limited at different times of the year.
An interesting feat by the common hamster (Cricetus cricetus) has been known
to accumulate stores of food as much as 90 kg in its burrows.
Communications
Hamsters are quiet animals and hence they rely mainly on scen tfor
communication. They possess a keen sense of smell. Hamsters have special scent
glands on the so called “hip spots and they show up as dark areas on the skin.
Dwarf Russians hamsters have an extra scent gland down their midline in the
underside of their body called a ventral scent gland. The chemicals produced
are used to mark things that they have climbed over.