Hamster , common name for any of several rodents characterized by large food-carrying cheek pouches, thick fur, and a short tail. One species attains a length of about 30 cm (about 12 in). Hamsters live in many-chambered burrows 1 to 1.5 m (4 to 5 ft) below the surface of the ground in fields; they subsist mostly on cereal grains and may extensively damage crops. One of the chambers in the burrow is used as a storage room for grain in the summer and fall. In winter the hamster hibernates; its sleep is not continuous and it often wakes to feed on its stores. The female bears several litters a year and may produce as many as 18 young in one litter. The young are weaned when about two or three weeks of age and shortly thereafter leave the parents and construct their own burrows. The fur of some hamsters, notably the unusually colored, black-bellied hamster, is used for the lining of coats, and the flesh is sometimes eaten. Hamsters range over Eurasia and especially over the steppes, plains, and deserts of Central Asia. Golden hamsters are widely used in medical research and kept as children's pets. Dwarf hamsters also make good pets. In 1956 it was discovered that hamsters can be infected with the common cold. This discovery is of great significance to cold-virus research, in that the hamster is the first small laboratory animal found to be susceptible to colds .