The domesticated hamster begins with the Syrian or golden hamster. The earliest published reference to the animal is in the second edition of 'The Natural History of Aleppo', which was published in 1797 by Patrick Russell. Nothing more was recorded until approximately 40 years later. In 1839, British zoologist George R. Waterhouse discovered a little mouse-like animal near the Syrian city of Aleppo.
Waterhouse called the animal he discovered 'cricetus auratus', which meant golden hamster. A pelt from this little animal was admired in a British museum for years, but 100 years would pass before hamsters were considered for captivity. In fact, very little was heard of them between 1839 and 1930.
Samuel Adler, a parasitologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, would be the next person with an interest in the Syrian hamster. He was studying a parasite that causes a disease called leishmaniasis and was using the Chinese hamster as a study animal. However, he was unable to breed enough for his research and shipments from China were unreliable.
He asked his colleague Israel Aharoni. They both had heard of the Syrian hamster and asked a local sheik where they could find this hamster. The sheik directed them to a cultivated field and even provided laborers to dig up the hamsters. They dug up the nest of the mother and her 11 young. The year was 1930, and there were no books on raising hamsters. Aharoni and his wife did their best, but did not have much luck at first. Pretty soon, the 12 hamsters were down to three. The number soon grew with the first successful mating, and numbered at 150 within a year.
Aharoni and Adler both took pride in the successful breeding of the hamsters. Adler provided breeding stock to laboratories. By the time World War II started, Syrian hamsters had already reached the United States and were being used in laboratories.
Albert Marsh of Mobile, Alabama was not your typical highway engineer. He was also a businessman and saw an opportunity in hamsters. He won a Syrian hamster in a bet.
He became interested in this little animal and acquired more.
Marsh named his business the Gulf Hamstery and Marsh Enterprises. He began selling animals to individuals and laboratories. He even wrote and published a book on raising and breeding hamsters. By 1951 the book sold so well it was in its sixth edition. Marsh also did a little political work and convinced the state of California to recognize hamsters as domestic animals, thus opening up another market for his business.
