#hamster species

[allperfectpets]

Nocturnal Hamsters: The Hidden Creatures of the Night Unveiled!

Nocturnal Hamsters: The Secret Animals of the Night Uncovered! These little, shaggy animals have caught the interest of many pet people and creature fans the same. At nighttime naturally, hamsters display entrancing ways of behaving and transformations that make them remarkable among their rat family members. In this article, we will dive into the secretive universe of Nocturnal Hamsters, investigating their regular living space, ways of behaving, and explanations for their evening time exercises. Prepare to uncover the privileged insights of these enthralling animals!

[nocturnal-stims]

The adorable (but sadly critically endangered) wild European hamster

🥜 julianradwildlife on IG

[tribbetherium]

Today as abundant and diverse as they were back on their home planet, the ants were among one of the most successful terrestrial invertebrates that had been introduced to HP-02017. Descended from a select few species, introduced as detritivores, pollinators and seed dispersers, these remarkable hymenopterans have since spread across the globe and occupied the niches similar to Earthly ants, such as seed-eaters, leaf-cutters, scavengers, predators, fungus farmers and even honeydew-ranchers: though the livestock of those ranchers are somewhat different, with the niches of sap-sucking true bugs instead filled by beetles and lepidopterans.

Some species, however, have begun taking on niches unlike any of their Terran forebearers. Raftants, aquatic species native to floodplains, developed specialized castes to act as oars and floaters to propel the colony along the surface. Perhaps stranger, at least for ants, are the lonestingers: ants that no longer live in colonies and have become solitary, with all individuals being winged and wasplike, no longer producing wingless sterile workers and taking on a niche akin to solitary wasps and bees.

One of the most unusual species in the Middle Temperocene, however, are the lime ants (Citromyrmex polyregina), an abundant and widespread species found all across South Ecatoria and the neighboring islands. Easily recognizable by their distinct yellow and black coloring, these ants are generalist omnivores diet-wise: consuming both plant and animal matter, though prioritizing carbohydrate-rich sugary food like fruit, sap and nectar for the active adults, while saving protein-rich seeds, bugs and meat to the larvae to encourage their growth. Like most ants, they communicate by pheromones, travelling across the forest floor in single file to scout out food sources they can carry back to the colony. They, too, have specialized castes for their vital activities, such as small minor workers that participate in foraging and nest cleanup, major workers that act as heavy lifters and back-up defense, and soldiers, armed with large heads and powerful mandibles who defend the nest, cut up large pieces of food, and even ferry around the smallest workers hitchhiking on their bodies.

But one truly remarkable characteristic of the lime ant is its behavioral flexibility, thanks to an unusual recessive gene, the Q gene, that causes the species to produce three separate types of queens, depending on which alleles they acquire. Each one lives a completely different lifestyle: one that affects the behavior of their corresponding colonies as well. These genes mix together during nuptial flights, where alates from different colonies pair together queens and drones that in turn, produce offspring that are homozygous QQ, heterozygous Qq, or homozygous qq. This is further complicated by male ants being haploid, and thus males are always only Q or q.

Homozygous QQ queens develop into what is known as the despot morph: a sedentary, highly-aggressive queen with a bulky body and large mandibles. Her colony dwells in a fixed, permanent nest that occupies the same space for as long as she lives, which can be as long as fifteen years. During which time, their nests can grow into immense proportions, spanning tunnels and chambers many meters across and inhabiting up to 100,000 inhabitants. Despot morph queens tolerate no other reproducing female in the colony, and a single despot morph queen rules supreme: aggressively killing any other breeding female in her nest, be they rival invaders, her own alate daughters, or a worker that starts laying unfertilized eggs. All of her genetically fatherless drone offspring will be Q drones. If she mates with a Q drone, all her female offspring will be despot morphs as well, and if she mates with a q drone, half her offspring will be despot morphs, and half her offspring will be Qq heterozygous: the communal morphs.

Communal morphs, the second kind, are long-bodied and capable of traveling long distances on foot, unlike the sedentary despot morph. These queens, the most common kind, are different from despot morphs in another way: they tolerate the presence of other communal morph queens, thus producing a polygyne colony that is much larger than those of despot morphs, with as many as nine or ten queens and colonies growing to up to a million or more. Their large colony size instead favors them to constantly be on the move, foraging for food in an area and building smaller temporary nests and moving on once food becomes depleted in migrations every few months, with the queens marching along in the swarms and the brood carried by the workers as they go. With multiple queens that can be regularly replaced as they die, the colony as a whole can survive significantly longer than those of a despot morph, which is important as their nomadic lifestyle also leaves them with a higher mortality rate due to exposure to environmental factors and predators. Being heterozygous Qq, they can produce either Q drones or q drones, and a communal morph queen that mates with a Q drone will produce half despot morph offspring and half communal morph offspring, and a communal morph queen that mates with a q drone will produce half communal morph offspring and half qq homozygous offspring: the usurper morph.

Usurper morphs are unusual as they do not build colonies at all: they never shed their wings and remain solitary, similar to the lonestingers. As they disperse from their parent colony during the nuptial flight, they mate once with a drone and store his sperm, but do not start laying eggs right away. Instead, over the course of their long lifespan which may last many years (but rarely as long as the despot and communal morphs), the usurper queen instead infiltrates the nests of the other two kinds shortly before the nuptial flights begin, lays her eggs inside, and leaves all the effort of childcare to the workers of the colonies. Covering the eggs with pheromones to trick the colony into accepting them, she functions in essence as a solitary brood parasite whose progeny are raised by others. As she does not form a colony: none of her offspring become workers and soldiers, and instead always hatch into queens or drones: drone offspring are always q as they are born from unfertilized eggs. If she mates with a Q drone, half of her daughters will be communal morphs and half will be usurpers, and if she mates with a q drone, all her daughters will be usurper morphs.

This unusual arrangement likely evolved as an advantageous trait due to fickle, changing seasons and environments, allowing the species as a whole to persist. When food is plenty despot morphs become more common, able to defend a productive patch of land. When food is scarcer, communal morphs dominate, able to travel long distances to scout out new foraging grounds. And when times are the toughest, the most common morph becomes usurpers: being solitary, they need less food than a whole colony and can depend on the few hardy colonies to rear their young. Through a complex set of environmental dynamics, genetic inheritance, and competition between the queen types, the lime ant proves itself an adaptable and tenacious species that finds great success in the forest floor ecosystems of South Ecatoria.

Despite its complicated and bizarre life history, however, the local northhounds that occupy its range, in particular the vulpins, have found a rather mundane use for this abundant species. When threatened, major workers spray formic acid from specialized nozzles in their abdomens as a ranged mechanism. This, however, has been exploited by the vulpins who intentionally provoke the ants to get them to spray their acid onto food items: in effect acting as both a preservative to ward off fungal and bacterial growth on food, and as well as a seasoning that imparts a sour, citrus-like flavor onto said food. While toxic in large quantitities, the ants' formic acid is harmless in small amounts to larger creatures like the northhounds: making for a surprisingly ideal additive in the vulpins' cultural fondness of imparting different tastes in their primitive form of 'cuisine'.

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[asparklethatisblue]

sometimes I feel like I want to hunt shitty influencers for sport when they post animal stuff. Clearly distressed animals or wild animals that shouldn’t be near untrained humans or animals THAT SHOULD NOT BE PETS kept as pets… animals in situations that are dangerous or unhealthy. people pretending that high maintenance pets are easy and fun. Fucking… i hate these people

[arrghigiveup]

[kawaiichibiart]

I'm still fleshing it out, but here's what I got so far for my new PRSK AU:

It's called Shelter. Because of animal shelters, a place of protection, and the song (I'm very specifically thinking about the Vocaloid and UTAU chorus version ↓)

The idea so far is that for the past decade or two, there's been an illegal experiment going on where this group of "scientists" collect kids with the intent on turning them into animals. The majority of these kids were kidnapped while on their way to school, from parks, even from their bedrooms. And others were sold to them by their parents as a form of punishment.

Of course, after years of tests and experiments to see how far their animal instincts can go, some of these kids were able to escape.

Rui, Akito and Mafuyu were the fastest in the group who escaped and thus were able to help get more kids out. In total, eleven of them were able to escape:

Rui, Akito, Honami and Minori (who were turned into dogs)

Airi (who was turned into a cat)

Shizuku and Mafuyu (who were turned into rabbits)

Kohane (who was turned into a snake)

Emu and Mizuki (who were turned into birds)

and

Ichika (who was turned into a spider)

Everyone else was caught before they could escape.

The ones who did are planning how to get everyone else out. But a hurdle hits them when Mizuki and Emu, who were able to fly back and hide from sight, overheard that the other kids were being separated and sent to different labs. Having them all together proved to be an error since a massive breakout had happened and some managed to escape. Having them in smaller groups means less kids to focus on. Less kids to focus on means the people guarding them can keep a closer eye on them. And if another breakout occurs, everyone who tries to escape will be put into lockdown. No food. No water. Just them in a dark room until whoever's in charge decides they've learned their lesson.

With that in mind, they become more determined to help free the other kids from that prison.

Slowly, but surely, they're able to do so. It's dangerous and they have had times were they were only able to save one or two kids.

The ones who were saved were taken to Shelter, a sanctuary made by Mizuki's and Emu's sisters who were both grateful when the younger girls returned home. The two, along with the rest of the Otori family and parents of some of the other kids, provided what they could to ensure these kids would be safe and comfortable, especially those who wouldn't return home because they were sold into the experiment (Mafuyu, Toya and Ena).

There are just three more kids they need to save. But while they were able to get everyone else while on they were on the road, these three have almost made it to their new location. So if they want to get them out before they arrive, they have to go fast and they can't stop.

The ones who ultimately go on the last rescue mission are Rui, Akito, Ichika, Mafuyu and Mizuki. Following their plans, they're able to catch up with the van transporting these kids. They were able to quickly subdue the "scientists" and open the van revealing the last three kids. Two boys and a girl. One of the boy and the girl looked alike and the other boy had two toned blue hair. The blue haired boy and the girl were holding onto the other boy as he growled at them. It took them a moment to realize they weren't the "scientists" and a little longer to fully trust them.

And that's what I have so far. Here's some more stuff I plan to add but want to flesh out more:

"Scientists" are in quotes because they aren't scientists. At least either not anymore or they never got the title officially. They call themselves that because they're doing experiments and trying to "discover" something new. It's also to make them seem less threatening whenever they approach a kid with parents around. They lie about the experiment and will switch up their story to appeal to parents. They lie about how well behaved the kids who attended their classes went. How they learned respect and became obedient. Sometimes they just tell the truth: your kid seems to disobey you, wouldn't you think having a way to make them obey would be better?? A way to ensure they never leave you. We can do something for you. For a price, of course.

There is no one specific breed of animal they get experimented as. It's a combination of them, so they're all classed by the basic names (dog, cat, bird, etc.).

Mafuyu's, Toya's, Ena's and Akito's parents all try to see their kids once they escape, but are prohibited from doing so. The only one who can is Mafuyu's dad, but he respects their decision to not see him for the time being. Part of me wants the parents who sold their kids into this illegal experiment to face the consequences, but I'm not sure when to have it happen or how long it should be.

Tsukasa, Saki and Toya were the first group to be taken to the new labs. Because of this they got the furthest out before the others could get to them. While on the road minor experiments were done on them, expanding on the animal instincts they had, which is why Tsukasa ended up growling at them (the rescue group) when they opened the van. To him, the doors opening was always a sign of a threat. A threat he had to face on to ensure Saki and Toya weren't hurt.

Mizuki's sister moved back to Japan as soon as she finished college. Knowing her sister was taken made her want to return home so she could help search. It was during this time she met Hinata Otori, who's sister was also taken. They would end up creating Shelter when the two girls quite literally crashed into the Otori household.

Animal instincts and features vary depending on how long they got experimented on and a bit of Frankenstein-ing. For example, Tsukasa and Saki both have cat eyes (literally and in the sense they can see in the dark), better balance and their hair can puff out (it doesn't stand up right tho), since they were both amongst the first taken, while Akito, who was amongst the last taken, only has a slightly better sense of smell and hearing.

Kohane had the biggest amputation done since she was turned into a snake (she lost both her legs). And while she can get around, it does hurt. She also has a lot more fainting spells due to her instinct to play dead when she gets scared.

[failsquirrel]

someone name a small- to medium-sized rodent. NOW

[thecranewivesrpf]

hey guys have you ever considered a hamster mcyt au anyways h!joel circling h!etho forever

[wildshadowtamer]

(sees a human version of a popular cartoon animal character) he would not look like that

[allperfectpets]

Are Hamsters Omnivores? The Truth Unveiled!

Hamsters are little, cute pets that have dazzled the hearts of many. On the off chance that you're a hamster proprietor or considering getting one, understanding their dietary requirements and preferences is fundamental. One normal inquiry that emerges is whether hamsters are omnivores. In this article, we will investigate the eating regimen of hamsters, and their stomach-related framework, and shed light on their omnivorous way of behaving.

[kandidandi]

Also starlings are an invasive species here where I live but when they are in big flocks that is cool

*sobs* darn invasive birds

[tribbetherium]

The subcontinent of North Westerna, in the Temperocene, had become a lifeboat for the hammoths: a relic clade once dominant in the Glaciocene, now relegated to this small landmass, here they flourished and came once again to approach the diversity their kin once did, sporting species both great and small. For a time, North Westerna remained virtually free of large predators, and here the hammoths flourished, but then in the Temperocene, an intruder would arrive that would change the dynamics of this isolated land: the pterowrists.

Pterowrists are among the most bizarre and unusual of the pterodents, as they display easily one of the most drastic examples of of sexual dimorphism on HP-02017: females of these species are many orders of size larger than males, and in most species have become too heavy to fly: thus, splitting the two into completely different ecological niches. This unusual distinction was merely an exaggeration of a trend also present in many other pterodents, of females growing larger due to needing to bear young and defend their nests, while males grew smaller to compete less with their mates. This duality was furthered when they arrived onto an environment with no large land predators and little competition except small burrowing fearrets, and thus, the larger female pterowrists eventually came to occupy the niche of dominant land predator, while the males remained more or less occupying the niches of a more typical pterodent: an advantageous distinction that allowed a single species to essentially divide resources between two groups and thus reduce competition with itself.

The earliest of these were likely forms akin to the grassland bandrunner (Annulocaudopteryx equimensura), a very basal species where the size difference between the male and female is not as pronounced as other, more specialized forms. Yet, in the bandrunner, a behavioral and anatomical dichotomy can already be seen that marks it as part of the pterowrist lineage. While males have long, slender wings, fit for soaring, females have proportionately shorter and more rounder wings, and instead hunt on the ground: while still perfectly capable of flight, they prefer to hunt on foot and are swift runners, chasing down small bite-sized prey like furbils and duskmice, while the males in contrast have a preference for insects, wingles and small aquatic prey they can snatch in flight, as well as any scavenged carrion they can locate.

As female pterowrists came to eventually fill land predator niches, they over time grew bulkier and heavier and denser than their male counterparts to better tackle larger prey: ultimately leading to them abandoning flight entirely to specialize on becoming terrestrial macro-predators. Yellow brevtails (Xanthopteromys brevicauda) are a relatively small species like the bandrunner, but one that already exhibits the marked reduction of the females' forelimbs, and conversely the increase in size and strength of their hindlimbs, to better facilitate sustained chases on foot. The difference is not too marked while they are young pups, but, as they grow, the males, upon approaching sexual maturity, develop a growth spurt in their forearm bones and chest muscles while remaining fairly lightly built, while the females hit a more generalized growth spurt with their forelimbs remaining small, stunted, and proportionally similar to a young pup, but at the same time growing denser bones and stronger muscles especially in their jaws, necks and legs. Female brevtails are pursuit hunters that can tackle prey up to the size of small hamtelopes, seizing them in their jaws and repeatedly striking captured prey against the ground to dispatch them. Males, on the other hand, are dedicated scavengers and foragers, with a particular fondness of dropping bones as well as small, hard-shelled prey such as terrestrial shrabs from great heights to crack them open and access their prize.

As the pterowrist females grew larger and more capable of tackling bigger prey, they soon turned their sights on the subcontinent's most abundant local herbivores: the hammoths, of which many smaller species were abundant at the time, including beaver-sized burrowers or goat-sized grazers. Thus, some began specializing to hunt them and the native ungulopes as well, becoming even larger and more built for jumping onto and grappling bulkier game. The black rapteryx (Phorusracomys dimorphis) is the most notable of these species, being a four-to-five foot tall ambush hunter typically reaching weights of up to 150 pounds, heavy enough to tackle medium-sized herbivore prey, pinning them down and delivering deep lacerations with their large forward-turned inner dewclaw, striking and retreating repeatedly until its quarry eventually succumbs to exhaustion and blood loss. Male rapteryxes, on the other hand, prefer much smaller prey such as small hamtelopes, rattiles or ratbats, especially ones they can seize in their talons and carry off to a roost high up in trees, rocks or cliffs where they are less likely to be bothered by thieves: including opportunistic female rapteryxes who will not hesitate to use their greater size to bully a smaller male and steal his kills if she happens upon him on the ground, thus prompting them to use their advantage of flight to safekeep their food and spare themselves from harassment.

The arms race between hammoths and pterowrist females thus began, fueling the growth of both into increasingly larger forms better suited to attack bigger prey or defend itself. From the hammoths eventually arose the giant maustodons, rivalling the hammoths of the Glaciocene in size and strength, and in response, the peculiar saga of the pterowrist finally culminates with the pterowrex (Pterovenatrix regina): North Westerna's apex predator during the Temperocene era. Growing up to six-to-seven feet in height and reaching weights of up to 700 pounds, these powerful hunters sport hooked talons and muscular limbs to maintain a secure grip on prey and broad crunching jaws to deliver devastating bites. They have easily one of the largest disparities between sexes size-wise, as male pterowrexes weigh a comparatively measly weight of 30 pounds on average, with a wingspan of roughly three meters. Adolescent females are lean and lightly built, resembling much like the more basal rapteryxes during their youth, but continue growing for far longer, developing disproportionately large heads and muscular necks as they age and finally reaching full size in about ten years, whereas males, on the other hand, reach their final adult size in about half the time.

This extreme difference in size and shape between the sexes has significantly impacted their lifestyles, both in their ecological niches as well as their social interactions with other members of their species. Female pterowrexes are capable of tackling the largest of the hammoths, as well as opportunistically chasing away smaller pterowrists from their meals if the chance presents itself. Males, on the other hand, are ground hunters that stalk in grassy plains, stirring up small furbils and duskmice from their burrows and snatching them up as they flee. This, ironically, has led to them frequently associating with the very same hammoths that the females hunt, pouncing on the small scurrying creatures roused by their stomping feet. The hammoths, unaware and indifferent of the relationship between the small flying males and the large predatory females, tolerate the presence of the males and view them as no threat, even allowing them to pluck insects from their coats.

Male and female pterowrexes, given their massive differences in scale and lifestyle, generally live their lives apart, and only come together when mating: an otherwise difficult affair mitigated by the male's proportionately-lengthly reproductive equipment that enable him to inseminate a female many magnitudes of size larger. This is where his responsibility ends, as he contributes little else to his offspring but his genes and departs almost immediately to try and court another female, with the resulting child-rearing falling entirely in the responsibility of the females, with a litter of up to a dozen small but relatively precocious young weaning at three weeks of age, males fledging and flying off at about a year old, and females remaining with their mothers for as long as four to five years until they reach the adolescent to subadult stage where they eventually disperse from their mother's territory over time. Outside of breeding seasons, however, the two sexes of the pterowrex keep to themselves: seeking social interactions with same-sex members of their species, with males gathering in small all-male flocks that roost together, preen each other's coats and even cooperate when flushing small prey out of hiding, while females often pair-bond with another female, with the two cooperating during hunting, sharing food and territory, and even rearing their young together once the males depart after their brief and momentary encounter with the females.

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[youwearfinethingswellwriter]

Giving them a hamster was the original idea, but I also like the idea of them having something slightly bigger like a Guinea pig.

Let me know what you think!

[mistermisterwastaken]

Raffle winners over on my Twitter!

NodOff @ampshocksub Cross

[mrnnki-img]

kendy,

[thecranewivesrpf]

in thinking about hamster care hatred is in my heart again. kaytee I hate you stop selling tiny ass cages as permanent housing for hamsters can I come over and bite you (derogatory)