Q 01/05

Hamsters belong to which rodent subfamily?

A) Murinae

B) Arvicolinae

C) Gerbillinae

D) Cricetinae

Answer · why

D) Cricetinae

Cricetinae sits in the family Cricetidae beside the voles and lemmings, which makes a hamster closer kin to a vole than to a gerbil or a rat, both of ...

Q 02/05

Wild hamsters are native to which part of the world?

A) Europe and North America

B) Europe and Asia

C) Asia and Africa

D) Asia and Australia

Answer · why

B) Europe and Asia

Europe and Asia hold every wild hamster, from Belgian farm fields east to Siberia and Korea, so each pet hamster in the Americas descends from animals...

Q 03/05

The word 'hamster' comes from German, where the verb 'hamstern' means what?

A) To dig

B) To hoard

C) To nibble

D) To scurry

Answer · why

B) To hoard

To hoard is the sense German gave the verb, after the animal's habit of cramming food into its cheeks, and a bout of panic buying there is a Hamsterka...

Q 04/05

A hamster's cheek pouches extend back as far as which part of its body?

A) Its ears

B) Its chest

C) Its hind legs

D) Its shoulders

Answer · why

D) Its shoulders

Its shoulders mark the back end of pouches roomy enough that some mother hamsters tuck their pups inside to carry them away from danger.

Q 05/05

The golden hamster's name in the Arabic dialect where it was found roughly translates as what?

A) Little golden one

B) Desert mouse

C) Mister saddlebags

D) Sand digger

Answer · why

C) Mister saddlebags

Mister saddlebags, the usual English rendering of the local nickname, points at the cheek pouches, which bulge like a pack animal's panniers once they...