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How does a hamster hide its own weight in its cheeks?

Look at your hamster as he runs to the bowl. One time, and his face turns into a balloon! Does it look like he ate too much? No, he's just packing his bags. He has real "pockets" inside his cheeks.

The Syrian hamster has two cheek pouches that extend from its mouth all the way to its shoulders. Imagine two elastic pouches right under its skin — like rubber gloves that can be stretched very, very hard. The hamster fills them with seeds, grains, and pieces of vegetables. And here's the most amazing thing: it can take so much food into its cheeks that it weighs as much as it does! If the hamster weighs 120 grams, then it will also stuff another 120 grams of food into its cheeks.

It's like you could put an entire backpack of textbooks in your mouth and run to your room with it.

Why such a superpower? In the wild, Syrian hamsters live in the deserts of Syria. There is little food there, but there are many dangers: owls, foxes, snakes. Therefore, the hamster quickly finds grains, stuffs its cheeks to the brim and rushes into a burrow. And there, in comfort, it puts everything in its pantry. Scientists have found burrows where the hamster has pulled up to 25 kilograms of grain over the summer!

Your pet hamster does the same thing. If you give him treats in the evening, he won't eat them right away - he'll hide them under the litter "for a rainy day.".

A hamster is the smallest farmer in your house.