Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Orig­i­nally iden­ti­fied by O. Thomas in 1905, Phodo­pus camp­belli, com­monly known as Camp­bell’s ham­sters or Djun­gar­ian ham­sters, is a na­tive in­hab­i­tant of the steppes and deserts of inner Mon­go­lia and north­east­ern China.

Heav­ily in­hab­ited areas of Mon­go­lia in­clude, but are not lim­ited to; the Altai Moun­tains, Trans­baikalia, Nei Mon­gol, and Tu­vin­skaya (Tuva) Au­tonomous Re­gion. Bor­der­ing ter­ri­to­ries in north­ern China, the Heilungkiang and Hebei provinces more specif­i­cally, also main­tain dense pop­u­la­tions of Phodo­pus camp­belli. (Thomas, 1905)

• Biogeographic Regions
• palearctic
  • native

Habi­tat

Phodo­pus camp­belli, like fel­low mem­bers of the sub­fam­ily Criceti­nae, cre­ates and dwells within a sys­tem of sub­ter­ranean tun­nels. The bur­row of a Camp­bell’s ham­ster is usu­ally com­posed of four to six main tun­nels, with both hor­i­zon­tal and ver­ti­cal ori­en­ta­tion. A nest is often con­structed at the end of a tun­nel and com­prised of dry and in­su­lat­ing ma­te­ri­als in­clud­ing but not lim­ited to; grasses, feath­ers and wool. Seeds and nuts are, more often than none, cached in ex­tremely close prox­im­ity to the nest­ing area.

Ad­di­tion­ally, sev­eral re­gion-de­pen­dant vari­a­tions in Phodo­pus camp­belli habi­tat pref­er­ence have been doc­u­mented. In the Barga and Great Kingan Re­gions of Manchuria, Camp­bell’s ham­sters are known to share tun­nels and bur­rows with sev­eral species of pikas, Ochotona dau­ria and Ochotona mantchuria. More­over, Phodo­pus camp­belli re­sid­ing on the Mon­go­lian Plateau do not dig their own bur­rows, but in­stead share the bur­rows of sev­eral species of Meri­ones, more com­monly known as jirds or ger­bils. (Allen, 1938)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• desert or dune
• savanna or grassland
• mountains

• Range depth

  1 (high) m

  3.28 (high) ft

• Average depth

  .0025-.0030 m

  ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Phodo­pus camp­belli is very small in size and the pelage is short and silky. The un­der­side of the an­i­mal is cov­ered in soft, buff, light grey fur and the dor­sal por­tions, in­clud­ing the head, are woody brown in color. The un­der­fur is quite short and is a dark slate grey. A de­fined char­coal stripe runs from be­tween the ears to the tail. The pads of all dig­its, and the small tail, are cov­ered in silky white fur. Ad­di­tion­ally, Camp­bell’s ham­sters, like other mem­bers of the sub­fam­ily Criceti­nae, pos­sess large in­ter­nal cheek pouches that ter­mi­nate above the scapula. Males are larger than fe­males. (Thomas, 1905)

Phodo­pus camp­belli is often con­fused with Phodo­pus sun­gorus, Siber­ian ham­sters. How­ever, there are sev­eral phys­i­cal char­ac­ter­is­tics that dis­tin­guish the two species. The ears of Phodo­pus camp­belli are gen­er­ally smaller than those of Phodo­pus sun­gorus. The mid-dor­sal stripe of the Camp­bell’s ham­ster is both thin and de­fined and the area where the dor­sal fur meets the ven­tral fur is a creamy light yel­low. More­over, the un­der­fur of Phodo­pus camp­belli is dark grey, whereas that of Phodo­pus sun­gorus is white. (Allen, 1938; Hol­lis­ter, 1912)

Doc­u­men­ta­tions of re­gion-de­pen­dant color vari­a­tions have been col­lected from sev­eral pop­u­la­tions of Phodo­pus camp­belli na­tive to the Chuisaya Steppes. Camp­bell’s ham­sters from this area are slightly greyer in color and pos­sess a shorter mid-dor­sal stripe. (Hol­lis­ter, 1912)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

• Average mass

  23.4 g

  0.82 oz

• Range length

  80 to 103 mm

  3.15 to 4.06 in

• Average length

  102 mm

  4.02 in

• Range basal metabolic rate

  1.63 +/- 0.38 to 1.88 +/- 0.57 cm3.O2/g/hr

Re­pro­duc­tion

These ham­sters are promis­cu­ous.

• Mating System
• polygynandrous (promiscuous)

Wild Phodo­pus camp­belli breed 3-5 times per year, whereas cap­tive Phodo­pus camp­belli breed year-round. The breed­ing of the Camp­bell’s ham­ster varies by ge­o­graphic lo­ca­tion. Breed­ing be­gins in April and May, in the Tuva and Trans­baikalia re­gions of Mon­go­lia, re­spec­tively, and ends in late Sep­tem­ber or early Oc­to­ber. (Ross, 1995)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• viviparous
• sperm-storing
• post-partum estrous

• Breeding interval

  Wild Phodopus campbelli breed 3-5 times per year, whereas captive Phodopus campbelli breed year-round.

• Breeding season

  The breeding of the Campbell’s hamster varies by geographic location. Breeding begins in April and May, in the Tuva and Transbaikalia regions of Mongolia, respectively, and ends in late September or early October.

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 12

• Average number of offspring

  8.2

• Range gestation period

  13.5 to 22 days

• Average gestation period

  17.5 days

• Average weaning age

  17 days

• Average time to independence

  23 days

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  48 days

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  23 days

At birth, Phodo­pus camp­belli are com­pletely help­less and hair­less. In­cisors and small claws are pre­sent, but the ears and eyes are both sealed. The young de­pend on parental in­vest­ment, until weaned ap­prox­i­mately 17 days after birth. Prior to a study pub­lished in 2000 (Jones, 2000), it was widely held that fe­male ham­sters were pri­mar­ily re­spon­si­ble for care of the young. How­ever, re­cent ev­i­dence sug­gests that male ham­sters may as­sist in the de­liv­ery process by con­sum­ing both am­ni­otic fluid, pla­centa and fetal mem­branes. (Jones, 2000; McMil­lan, 1999)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• pre-hatching/birth
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-independence
  • protecting
    • male
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Min­i­mal doc­u­men­ta­tion ex­ists re­gard­ing the lifes­pan of wild Phodo­pus camp­belli. How­ever, cap­tive Phodo­pus camp­belli have been ex­ten­sively stud­ied in var­i­ous lab­o­ra­tory set­tings and their av­er­age lifes­pan ranges any­where from 1.5 - 3 years.

• Typical lifespan
  Status: captivity

  2 to 2.5 years

Be­hav­ior

Phodo­pus camp­belli is gen­er­ally clas­si­fied as a soli­tary species. How­ever, in cap­tiv­ity, Phodo­pus camp­belli ex­hibits a high tol­er­ance for other species mem­bers when shar­ing ter­ri­tory. Camp­bell’s ham­sters, like other mem­bers of the sub­fam­ily Criceti­nae, are noc­tur­nal. But cap­tive spec­i­mens ex­hibit spo­radic ad­her­ence to the cycli­cal sleep and wake pat­terns of wild spec­i­mens.

Phodo­pus camp­belli scut­tles when mov­ing quickly. In order to avoid preda­tors the Camp­bell’s ham­ster often moves both abruptly and quickly. The max­i­mum doc­u­mented run­ning speed of Phodo­pus camp­belli is 6.5 km/hr. (Wynne-Ed­wards, et al., 1992)

• Key Behaviors
• fossorial
• nocturnal
• motile
• solitary
• territorial

• Average territory size

  3.5 km^2

Home Range

Aside from bur­row di­men­sions, very few doc­u­mented ac­counts in­ves­ti­gate the over­all ter­ri­tory size of Phodo­pus camp­belli. How­ever, in 1992 a sur­vey of the home ranges of sev­eral fe­male Camp­bell's ham­sters was con­ducted in the Lake Tere Xol re­gion of Mon­go­lia. (Wynne-Ed­wards, et al., 1992)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Of all the senses, Phodo­pus camp­belli re­lies pri­mar­ily on smell. Wild Camp­bell’s ham­sters, both male and fe­male, uti­lize urine and feces to iden­tify ter­ri­tory. Ad­di­tion­ally, se­cre­tions orig­i­nat­ing from both the ven­tral se­ba­ceous glands and the Hard­er­ian glands, lo­cated be­hind the an­i­mal’s ears, are uti­lized not only for ter­ri­tory iden­ti­fi­ca­tion, but also for com­mu­ni­ca­tion. The oral se­ba­ceous glands of Phodo­pus camp­belli also serve to mark all of the con­tents that enter or leave the an­i­mal’s cheek pouches. (Tikhonova, et al., 1999; Wynne-Ed­wards, et al., 1992)

• Communication Channels
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• scent marks

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

The diet of wild Phodo­pus camp­belli is pri­mar­ily com­posed of a wide va­ri­ety of seeds, nuts and veg­e­ta­tion, in­clud­ing Stipa capil­lata, Iris ruthe­nia and Iris flav­isima. Ad­di­tion­ally, the diet may be sup­ple­mented with small in­ver­te­brates and in­sects. (Ross, 1995)

Cap­tive Phodo­pus camp­belli will wel­come al­most any com­mer­cially pre­pared ham­ster food, tra­di­tion­ally com­posed of an ex­ten­sive as­sort­ment of corn, oats, sun­flower, peanuts, dried fruits and de­hy­drated veg­eta­bles. The lat­ter diet is often sup­ple­mented with al­falfa and min­er­als or salts.

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore
  • granivore

• Animal Foods
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods
• mollusks

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• wood, bark, or stems
• seeds, grains, and nuts
• fruit
• flowers

• Foraging Behavior
• stores or caches food

Pre­da­tion

Known preda­tors of tsaker fal­con this species are cor­sac foxes (Vulpes cor­sac), eagle owls (Bubo bubo), steppe ea­gles (Aquila ni­palen­sis), kestrels (Falco tin­nun­cu­lus) and saker fal­cons (Falco cher­rug).

• Known Predators

  • corsac foxes (Vulpes corsac)
  • eagle owls (Bubo bubo)
  • steppe eagles (Aquila nipalensis)
  • common kestrels (Falco tinnunculus)
  • saker falcons (Falco cherrug)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Phodo­pus camp­belli dis­perses the seeds of nu­mer­ous plant species. Their bur­rows are not par­tic­u­larly de­struc­tive to the en­vi­ron­ment. They serve as a pri­mary food source for cor­sac foxes (Vulpes cor­sac).

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Phodo­pus camp­belli, Phodo­pus roborovskii (desert ham­sters) and Phodo­pus sun­gorus (Dzhun­gar­ian or Siber­ian ham­sters) were col­lec­tively in­tro­duced to the Amer­i­can pet in­dus­try as “dwarf ham­sters” in the mid-1990s. The small size, mild tem­pera­ment and in­ex­pen­sive main­te­nance of Phodo­pus camp­belli make it both a novel pet for first-time pet own­ers and a par­tic­u­larly ideal pet for young chil­dren. More­over, un­like larger species of the sub­fam­ily Criceti­nae, Phodo­pus camp­belli will con­tent­edly co­hab­i­tate with one an­other.

The same char­ac­ter­is­tics that make the Camp­bell’s ham­ster an at­trac­tive pet also make it an ideal an­i­mal model for sci­en­tific study. Phodo­pus camp­belli has been uti­lized in nu­mer­ous cy­to­ge­netic and can­cer in­ves­ti­ga­tions. (Pogosianz, 1975)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade
• research and education

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Be­cause the nat­ural habi­tat of Phodo­pus camp­belli is large, un­de­vel­oped ex­panses of desert, steppe and moun­tain ter­rain, the Camp­bell’s ham­ster is not re­spon­si­ble for any doc­u­mented sig­nif­i­cant neg­a­tive eco­nomic im­pact.

Phodo­pus camp­belli are in­quis­i­tive by na­ture, and in­di­vid­u­als kept as pets have been known to nip hu­mans when star­tled. How­ever, the bite is pri­mar­ily a re­ac­tion mech­a­nism and nips rarely ex­tend be­yond the out­er­most, der­mal, layer of tis­sue.

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
  • bites or stings

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

The nat­ural habi­tat of Phodo­pus camp­belli is an ex­tremely dry, harsh and un­de­vel­oped en­vi­ron­ment. The Camp­bell’s ham­ster is not con­sid­ered an en­dan­gered species and prob­a­bly does not face ex­tinc­tion any­time in the near fu­ture.

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Matthew Wund (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Nora Cothran (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor, Phil Myers (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Mu­seum of Zo­ol­ogy, Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Ref­er­ences

Allen, G. 1938. The Mam­mals of China and Mon­go­lia. New York, New York: The Amer­i­can Mu­seum of Nat­ural His­tory.

Hol­lis­ter, N. 1912. New mam­mals from the high­lands of Siberia. Smith­son­ian Mis­cel­la­neous Col­lec­tions, 60/14: 1-6.

Jones, J. 2000. Pa­ter­nal ham­sters me­chan­i­cally as­sist the de­liv­ery, con­sume am­ni­otic fluid and pla­centa, re­move fetal mem­branes, and pro­vide parental care dur­ing the birth process. Hor­mones & Be­hav­ior, 37/2: 116-125.

Lai, S. 1994. In­di­vid­ual odors in Djun­gar­ian ham­sters (Phodo­pus camp­belli). Ethol­ogy, 96/2: 117-126.

McMil­lan, H. 1999. Di­ver­gent re­pro­duc­tive en­docrinol­ogy of the es­trous cycle and preg­nancy in dwarf ham­sters (Phodo­pus). Com­par­a­tive Bio­chem­istry & Phys­i­ol­ogy, 124/1: 53-67.

Pogosianz, H. 1975. Djun­gar­ian ham­ster, a suit­able tool for can­cer re­search and cy­to­ge­netic stud­ies. Jour­nal of the Na­tional Can­cer In­sti­tute, 54: 659-664.

Robin­son, T. 1993. Cross-species dis­crim­i­na­tion of in­di­vid­ual odors by ham­sters (Muri­dae: Mesocrice­tus au­ra­tus, Phodo­pus camp­belli). Ethol­ogy, 94/4: 317-325.

Ross, P. 1995. Phodo­pus camp­belli. Mam­malian Species, 0/503: 1-7. Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 01, 2004 at http://​www.​science.​smith.​edu/​departments/​Biology/​VHAYSSEN/​msi/​default.​html.

Sokolov, V., N. Vasil'ev. 1993. Be­hav­ior of Phodo­pus camp­belli Thomas, 1905 in na­ture: Con­fir­ma­tion of the so­cial bi­o­log­i­cal field the­ory. Dok­lady Akademii Nauk, 332/5: 667-670.

Sokolov, V., N. Vasil'ev. 1993. Hy­bri­do­log­i­cal analy­sis con­firms species in­de­pen­dence of Phodo­pus sun­gorus (Pal­las, 1973) and Phodo­pus camp­belli (Thomas, 1905). Dok­lady Akademii Nauk, 332/1: 120-123.

Thomas, O. 1905. A new Crice­tu­lus from Mon­go­lia. An­nals and Mag­a­zine of Nat­ural His­tory, 6: 322-323.

Tikhonova, G., I. Tikhonov, A. Surov. 1999. Com­par­a­tive analy­sis of sen­sory in­for­ma­tion in dwarf ham­sters (Ro­den­tia, Criceti­dae). Zo­o­logich­eskii Zhur­nal, 78/2: 253-259.

Wynne-Ed­wards, K., A. Surov, A. Telitz­ina. 1992. Field Stud­ies of Chem­i­cal Sig­nal­ing: Di­rect Ob­ser­va­tions of Dwarf Ham­sters in So­viet Asia. New York, New York: Plenum Press.

Wynne-Ed­wards, K. 1987. Ev­i­dence for Ob­lig­ate Monogamy in the Djun­gar­ian ham­ster Phodo­pus-Camp­belli. Be­hav­ioral Ecol­ogy & So­cio­bi­ol­ogy, 20/6: 427-438.