Golden hamster Golden hamster The golden hamster or Syrian hamster ("Mesocricetus auratus") is a rodent in the subfamily Cricetinae, the hamsters. Their natural geographical range is limited to arid areas of northern Syria and southern Turkey. Their numbers have been declining due to a loss of habitat caused by agriculture and deliberate elimination by humans. Thus, in the wild, they are now considered vulnerable by the IUCN. However, captive-breeding programs are well established, and captive-bred golden hamsters are often kept as small house pets. Additionally, they are also used as scientific research animals throughout the world. The size of adult animals ranges
Origin of the Kurds Origin of the Kurds The Kurds as an ethnicity within the Northwestern Iranian group enter the historical record at the end of the seventh century. Scholars have suggested different theories for the origin of the name "Kurd". According to the English Orientalist Godfrey Rolles Driver, the term "Kurd" is related to the Sumerian "Karda" which was found from Sumerian clay tablets of the third millennium B.C, while according to other scholars, it predates the Islamic period, as a Middle Persian word for "nomad", and may ultimately be derived from an ancient toponym or tribal name, either that of the "Cyrtii"