ENDOCRINE SYSTEM

The thryoid gland is bilobed and located at the level of the first tracheal cartilage. There are two parathyroid glands in its lateral margins. The adrenal glands lie craniomedial to the kidney and are embedded in adipose tissue. Unlike in most rodents, these glands are bigger in the male than the female (Bivin et al. 1987). There is a higher incidence of adreno­cortical hyperplasia and adenomas in the Syrian hamsters

Figure ll.ll • Hamster young are born altricial - both their eyes and earflaps are closed.

than any other rodent and these occur more commonly in elderly (2- to 3-year-old) male hamsters.