If the hamster is running right now, this will be a picture of him in his wheel. If not, it will be a picture of him sleeping. Online Science Experiment We will follow the activity of one of our hamsters for several months. You can see how our hamster is running right now , what he has done today , and what he did yesterday . If your browser can show frames, you can see what he has been doing for the last few days , or how he compares to his next-cage neighbor .
Hamsters tend to be active at night and sleep during the day.
If they have a running wheel in their cage, they love to run in it for hours, starting at about the same time every night. In fact, hamsters have a unique talent for telling time precisely, even when there are no external clues such as sunshine, room lights, or movement of other creatures. Some scientists study the time sense of hamsters to understand how the brain works, and to seek better treatments for sleep disorders, jet lag, and mental illnesses that may be caused by a faulty body clock. In this ongoing experiment, we are studying how medicines used to treat people with depression and other affective disorders may act on the body clock. A computer records every movement of the running wheel, and this data is analyzed to find out when he starts to run, how hard he runs, and when he stops.