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Hamsters are animals with a decent cognitive capacity which they share with other rodents.
Aside from having fully developed sensory organs, like the sense of smell and sound, they can acquire knowledge regarding tricks and exercises.
They use positive reinforcement to benefit their actions, which allows them to associate some events with ease.
But the question many of us ask is; how smart are hamsters?
This article seeks to answer the primary question; below are qualities that measure how smart hamsters are:
Capacity To Interact With Humans
Hamsters are clever creatures. They have the capability to relate with humans.
Once they spend a certain period around their owners, they get to adapt fast and can even recognize them.
Not just that, if you get to spend more time around these smart little creatures, a bond will be formed relatively quickly.
Hamsters may be more comfortable and playful around your family and friends while the particular connection is formed with only you and maybe any other person.
You will understand hamsters better when you spend more time with them.
After some time, they start answering when you call them by name.
They may even show off friends and they do all these to familiarize themselves.
They also do it to stay alert if they are threatened by any unusual sound or movement.
While some of them socialize with other hamsters, most of them prefer to socialize with humans.
Watching them interact with us helps you judge how smart hamsters are.
They always crave attention and if you are planning to leave your house, find someone to take care of your hamster.
Especially if you’re planning to be away for more than 48 hours.
Sense Of Smell
Hamsters are generally born blind, and they must distinguish people based on scent and sound.
To achieve a stronger bond with hamsters, make sure they are familiar with your smell and voice.
Begin by placing your hands on their cage so they can sniff in your scent.
At the same time, keep talking to them so they can get used to both your smell and voice.
Keep repeating this process, and you will surely be amazed when you realize how familiar they will be with you.
You’ll notice that hamsters will start yearning for you and suddenly become attention seekers once they become familiar with you.
Whenever you pass through their cage, you notice that they stood on their hind limbs so you can notice them and probably communicate.
Ensure that your hands are clean and neat, probably wash them before handling them to as not to make them confused with different scents.
They have a heightened sense of hearing in an extraordinary manner such that they can communicate at frequencies that even humans cannot hear! With this special trait, they are capable of finding and identifying area markings.
The well-developed sense of smell is probably the hamster’s most crucial sensory performance that makes them so smart.
Hamsters can detect even the finest traces of scents in the air.
This not only helps them with orientation and the food search but also when choosing a partner.
Hamsters have special glands through which they release scent marks.
These scent glands are located on the flanks of golden hamsters.
Dwarf hamsters only have one such gland – it is located on the stomach.
Based on the smell, they can determine whether there is a friend or an enemy in their surrounding.
This really shows the smartness of hamsters.
Heightened Sense Of Hearing
Both golden hamsters and dwarf hamsters have excellent hearing, which indicates how smart they are.
They even perceive sounds in the ultrasonic range, i.e., noises that are particularly high-pitched and inaudible to humans.
You can also communicate using ultrasound noises.
They have a wide range of auditory perception abilities, including the ability to hear ultrasonic frequencies, which enables them to communicate with one another inaudibly.
Even hamster babies utter beep tones in this frequency range so that their mom can then respond.
But even during a fight and when mating, noises are emitted in the ultrasonic range.
Hamsters are able to capture even the weakest sound sources from their environment.
They stand on their back legs and turn their heads and ears in all directions to better locate the noises.
Problem Solving Abilities
With well-developed problem-solving skills such as figuring out a maze, hamsters are smart enough to solve basic problems.
The intellectual quotient of a hamster can be tested at home.
Using a maze meant for hamsters could determine their IQ.
This will enable you to discover various ways the creature reacts in the face of a challenging situation.
The test could be made by keeping food at strategic places in the maze and watching the little smart one find his way around!
This fun discovery activity helps the hamster exercise, too, as it runs around the maze.
Indeed hamsters are really smart!
Highly Retentive Memory
Hamsters have a good memory. These creatures are able to recall the placement and arrangement of things in their cage.
They can recognize their names and even their best meal.
They can also recall who owns them and other people that are around.
A scientist once stated that one amusing thing about hamsters is the capability to figure out the different times and seasons.
Also, they know the time to breed and hibernate.
They can decode the quantity of sunlight necessary for their breeding.
They start hibernating once sunlight reduces.
Researchers have also found out that these creatures have long-term memory, and they can recall things in months and even years!
Ease Of Training
Just like every other animal, hamsters can undergo certain training.
As a result of their smartness training them is way less stressful in comparison with some of their contemporaries.
However, repetition, and consistency remains the key to achieving good results.
The level of training a hamster involves factors such as time spent and the extent of effort expended on the pet.
Note that all breeds are trainable. However, the ease of training varies across the breeds of hamsters.
Another awesome thing about training these creatures is that they can be instructed on the use of litter boxes.
You can use these boxes to store animal droppings and waste.
In turn, it keeps the surroundings neat, clean, and safe. You can train a hamster to use this!
This training helps reduce the stress of having to clean up every spill or dropping of the animal.
What Can A Hamster Learn?
Hamsters have the ability to understand various things when they are taught, including things that can make their daily lives easier.
Since they can learn and retain information, your work only lies in ensuring that they grasp whatever you teach them.
For instance, you can take advantage of proven training tactics when you want to change their sleeping time.
There are some opinions that changing their sleeping routine is somehow unhealthy, but this has not yet been proven.
Some methods also exist for training hamsters with the use of harnesses.
In this way, it will be less stressful to take your pet out for a walk.
Most of these kinds of training are usually tricky and require a significant amount of effort and time. Hence, patience and dedication are necessary.
Conclusion
Hamsters are really great pets!
With their abilities and level of smartness, they make pet life fun! Indeed with their abilities, you can evaluate how smart they are.
It’s worth remembering that a good diet and regular training can help you realize your hamster’s full potential!
I hope this article answered your question about how smart hamsters are!
Lucy is a real-time contributor to Purrfect n’ Pawesome, along with being a freelance writer to various pet forums and platforms. She started writing professionally in the year 2016. Earlier, she enjoyed her community life as a pet rescue volunteer and offered boarding services to pet owners. Her extensive experience in the pet field is now the basis for her writing at this site.
She loves to collect animal facts from around the globe and then transform them into amazing stories for her readers. For Lucy, the mission is to bring pet love to every home and equip the pet parents with the required useful and authentic information to nurture their pet accordingly.
She lives with her two cats and a shepherd mix, whom she loves the most. Despite her extremely busy life, she spends some time with wildlife and outer space to relax her mind and enhance her observation.
Purrfect n’ Pawesome is a platform that believes in providing our pets with the right kind of nurturing, care and upbringing to assist them in leading a healthy life. Go to our blog section and read out some pawesome and informative articles to ease your parenthood.
