Ee’s ‘amstair!

· science ·

Mr. Bsag was trying to remember the proper term for baby hamsters this evening (I forget why), and--embarrassingly given my profession--I couldn't remember either. We hit Google for an answer, and in the course of our search, found the World's Cutest Hamster Picture here. This little smasher is a Djungarian hamster (Phodopus campbelli, also erroneously known as a Siberian hamster--"Ee's no rat! Ee's 'amstair!"). The males of this species show extremely unusual behaviour for mammals; they act as midwives to the females, pulling the babies gently out of the birth canal, and cleaning off the placenta to clear their airways.

The term is 'pups', by the way, just in case you are on tenterhooks. Obvious, really.