Is it true that every pet hamster in the UK are the ancestors of a single pair that was brought over?

Question

Is it true that every pet hamster in the UK are the ancestors of a single pair that was brought over?

Answer 1

wow i've never heard of this before, imagin if it was :)

all them hamsters from 2 hamster, if you google it, it could tell you

x

Answer 2

I very much doubt it thousands of people who've emigrated here over the years have undoubtedly brought pet hamsters with them.

Answer 3

Basically Yes.

Answer 4

probobly yes...and depending what you believe your ansestors mam and dads names are adam and eve.

Answer 5

its thought so

but i dont think its ever been completly proven

Answer 6

Nope, there are way too many varieties in too short a time for that. It's an old wives tale that should be put right next to the "Noah and his Ark" stuff.

Answer 7

Every pet hamster in the UK and everywhere else are the descendants of a single litter of hamsters that were found in Syria in 1930. I'm not sure of the spelling but I think the town was Allepo.

EDIT:

In answer to Sir Richard's point, Hamsters are sexually mature at about six months so in the possible 150 generations of hamsters since 1930 there has been ample opportunity to select for all the breeds we now have.

Answer 8

There is an interesting history on how syrian hamsters appeared in the British Pet Market & yes they are all from the same ancestral lineage -

The first recording of the Golden Hamster (or Syrian) appeared in the second edition of the Natural History of Aleppo in 1797. The majority of Syrian hamsters in captivity were captured by Israel Aharoni, a zoologist, at the request of Saul Alder, a researcher on Leishmaniasis who required hamsters that would breed more readily than the Chinese hamsters he'd been working with. On April 12, 1930 Aharoni found a female Syrian hamster and 11 young. Several problems occured with the family, including cannibalism of one of the litter by it's mother which led to the mother being destroyed by it's captors. The remaining pups were hand reared with some losses and two of the hamsters escaping. Four of the litter remained however and survived till adulthood and later successfully were bred in the laboratory. The resulting hamster line was used extensively in laboratories until they were introduced into the British pet market in the 1940s.

When dwarf hamsters were introduced to the British Pet Market -

Dwarf hamsters are native to the arid desert regions of Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria, and northern China.The Dwarf Campbells Russian, Winter White Russian and Chinese Hamster were all introduced to the pet market in the UK in the 1970s. The Roborovski Hamster came from the Netherlands into the UK in 1990.