European Hamsters face new crisis

[Catherine]

The European Great Hamster is very much an endangered species. Human encroachment of their habitat is the real problem. Still there is food from human farms. That should help, but humans tend to plant all of one crop. Right now hamsters are eating a mostly corn diet and ending up with vitamin deficiencies.

They tested out the diet issues with captive colonies. The hamsters are deficient in B vitamins and develop problems similar to the human deficiency known as Pellagra.

"Vitamin B3 deficiency has been linked to ‘black-tongue’ syndrome in dogs, and a condition in humans called pellagra, also known as the “3-D” disease: diarrhea, dementia and dermatitis, such as eczema."

Hamsters suffering this condition eat their young.

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&ur...OcA5Vn1X8A

This is an example of how our interference in ecosystems is having consequences we never considered.
We forget how very important biodiversity is. We think it just means having lots of different stuff in an ecosystem. Ecosystems are a delicate balance between species. We are seeing consequences in the hamsters right now, but what else will be effected. What part of the system is dependent on the hamsters and will suffer if their numbers decline.

The hamsters might be a warning to us that we have made yet another mess of things.