Golden hamster stock of hamsters was exported from Syria to the United States in 1971, but apparently none of today's North American pets is descended from these (at least in the female line), because recent mitochondrial DNA studies have established that all domestic golden hamsters are descended from one female – probably the one captured in 1930 in Syria. Since the species was named, the genus "Cricetus" has been subdivided and this species (together with several others) was separated into the genus "Mesocricetus", leading to the currently accepted scientific name for the golden hamster of "Mesocricetus auratus". Following Professor Aharoni's collection in
The Hamsters they started getting bookings from venues further afield. During 1988–1990 they released a limited run of four cassette releases of their music until they released their first CD in 1990, titled "Electric HamsterLand" as a parody of the Hendrix "Electric LadyLand" album. There was also a limited run of vinyl LPs of the album. The Hamsters were called Britain's leading interpreters of the music of Jimi Hendrix and ZZ Top. and so were called a blues rock band, although they were not a tribute band "they take the music and push it a little further in the direction originally intended".