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
Domestication of the Syrian hamster the London Zoological Society, who himself established a colony for researchers. The hamsters eventually came to the laboratory of Leonard Goodwin whose hamsters became the stock of pet hamsters in the UK. There is agreement that Syrian hamsters must have come to the United States in 1938. Beyond that, it is unclear how many colonies of hamsters came, why they were sent, or where they went. The available evidence identifies three colonies of hamsters arriving in that year, with two colonies said to have come from Saul Adler, and another colony which could have come from him or otherwise which