Although hamsters are prey animals, they’re more intelligent than their position in the food chain implies.
Hamsters demonstrate intelligence through their ability to build complex burrows and learn tricks with positive reinforcement. They’re also sentient animals who can think and feel basic thoughts and emotions. However, hamsters aren’t as clever as other rodents like rats, mice, and squirrels.
Even though hamsters aren’t the cleverest members of the Order of Rodentia, their level of intellect means they grow bored quickly and require lots of physical and intellectual stimulation.
Are Hamsters Intelligent?
You can tell how smart a hamster is by watching how it behaves in its living environment.
Not only do hamsters build burrows, but they use specific tunnels to sleep, pee, and store their food. They’re also inquisitive and love to explore, which are signs of a bright animal.
Hamsters can also recognize their owners’ voices and be taught basic tricks and tasks.
However, as mentioned, the downside of hamsters’ intelligence is they must always have their minds and bodies exercised.
It’s not good enough to keep a hamster in a small cage and leave it to entertain itself, as it’ll become depressed and destructive.
Hamsters need a cage measuring at least 80 x 50 cm. In many cases, they need much more room. They also need toys and items they can use and explore, like a sand bath and cork logs.
How Can I Test My Hamster’s Intelligence?
You can test your hamster’s IQ by playing certain games with it.
Hamsters are food-focused animals, so the best way to test their intelligence is to make it work for treats. A hamster is more likely to respond favorably to the promise of a reward.
You can buy or make games. Then, set up hamster intelligence tests to see how it performs.
Create a Maze
Find a cardboard box and create a maze by separating sections with cardboard pieces or obstacles. Leave a treat at the exit point and watch the hamster navigate the maze to get its reward.
Note how long the hamster takes to get through the maze and how often it gets stuck. You can also increase the difficulty level by making the maze bigger and more complicated.
Place Food Under Containers
Another way to test a hamster’s intelligence is to obtain three light containers of different colors or patterns and place a treat underneath one.
A hamster will be intrigued enough to investigate the containers and smell the food. If the hamster knocks over the container without the food, place it back in its cage and return the knocked-over container to a standing position.
Then, repeat the game until the hamster can knock the container over with the food underneath. A smart hamster will approach a different container from the one already tried.
Are Hamsters Sentient?
As the journal Animals explains, sentience is the ability to consciously feel or experience subjectivity. In animals, this manifests as different states of welfare, which can be positive and negative.
Hamsters have feelings, including happiness and sadness, and can experience pain. They also have:
- A sense of perception.
- Consciousness.
- Sensations.
- Ability to perceive.
Due to their sentience, the journal Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine questions whether using sentient animals in basic research is justifiable.
Do Hamsters Have Thoughts?
Although they’re not as complex as humans, hamsters have thoughts. We’ll never know their feelings, but we can observe their behavior to understand how they react to certain situations.
The Royal Society Open Science found that hamsters often approached spatial judgment cues when enriched. So, they’re driven by their emotions and require stimulation to be happy.
Are Hamsters Smarter Than Rats?
Rats are widely considered the most intelligent rodent species.
As a result, hamsters don’t compare in terms of their intellect. Rats have a brain structure similar to humans, consisting of highly connected neurons that communicate with each other.
Current Biology explains how rats also show a basic level of metacognition (awareness of thought processes and an understanding of their patterns). This hasn’t been proven in hamsters.
Rats can think about past experiences, including the pros and cons of previous decisions. This was an ability previously thought specific to humans and primates.
While rats are more intelligent than hamsters, hamsters are similar to rats because they dig tunnels and can find their way around. They can also be taught tricks, although rats are faster learners.
Are Hamsters Smarter Than Gerbils?
Gerbils and hamsters are popular pets, so they’re commonly compared with each other. While they’re similar in size, their intellect doesn’t compare.
Hamsters are solitary creatures, so they only interact with each other to mate, and they fight for territory when placed in the same cage. So, gerbils have a more advanced level of social intelligence than hamsters, communicating with their species more effectively.
Gerbils also dig more complex underground burrows than hamsters. Hamsters can find their way around, but gerbils have better spatial memories.
Hamsters respond to classic conditioning in laboratory settings. For example, associating a neutral stimulus with a sound but teaching them tricks is far more difficult than training a gerbil.
Are Hamsters Smarter Than Mice?
Mice have more advanced cognitive abilities than hamsters.
Mice can learn and recall various behavioral tasks, but training hamsters in any medium that requires more than basic learning and memory is difficult.
Scientists believed hamsters were more intelligent than mice, but this isn’t the case. Mice can characterize information, switch between two ways of characterizing items and make quick decisions.
However, all rodents are good at different things, and hamsters have other unique qualities, such as building intricate tunnels and holding food in their cheek pouches.
Are Hamsters Smarter Than Guinea Pigs?
Hamsters have fewer neurons in their brains, and their memory spans are also shorter. Guinea pigs have good memories, which they use to:
- Recognize their owners.
- Learn and respond to names.
- Remember pathways and retrace their steps.
- Learn and remember tricks.
Not only are guinea pigs slightly more intelligent, but they’re less timid than hamsters, making it easier for them to learn tricks and perform them.
What Is the Smartest Rodent Species?
A ‘rodent’ is any animal belonging to the scientific order of Rodentia, including hamsters, rats, mice, gerbils, squirrels, chinchillas, capybaras, chipmunks, porcupines, beavers, etc.
Rodents are capable of demonstrating highly developed cognitive abilities.
Some are more intelligent than others due to their different mental abilities and brain structures. This is so they can live the unique life they’ve evolved to lead.
There are over 2,200 rodent species, making it impossible to test and rank their level of intelligence. Many haven’t even been scientifically studied, making them incomparable.
Some rodents, like rats, mice, and gerbils, have shown high levels of intelligence in laboratories, displaying problem-solving abilities and the capability to learn new skills.
Hamsters aren’t as clever as these rodents but can still learn tricks.
Despite their size, hamsters are smart creatures and need appropriate enrichment and entertainment to prevent boredom-related behaviors, such as bar biting and monkey barring.
You can also form a strong bond with a hamster due to its ability to recognize and interact with humans.
