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
The Gourd and the Palm-tree work for children. The same poem was later reprinted in Frances Jenkins Olcott's anthology of "Story-Telling Poems" (New York, 1913) with the same claim. Although there is ultimately some justice in this, as we have seen, the poem itself very obviously derives from Meissner's German fable and its original (and unacknowledged) Scottish author, Charles Mackay, nowhere credits it with an Eastern origin in the collection in which it first appeared. The Gourd and the Palm-tree The Gourd and the Palm-tree is a rare fable of West Asian origin that was first recorded in Europe in the Middle Ages. In the