About
Hamsters are a type of small rodent often kept as a pet, similar to Guinea Pigs. Because of their small size and ability to cram large amounts of food into their mouth, they are often used in viral videos.
Online History
One of the earliest examples of hamsters online was the Hamster Dance website. The original Hampster Dance website was created by Canadian Deidre LaCarte, an art student at the time, during a competition between her best friend and sister to see who could generate the most web traffic.[20] Using the web hosting service GeoCities[19], LaCarte created an homage to her pet hamster, Hampton, featuring 392 animated hamster sprites doing different dances[16] in August 1998. She paired the GIFs with a 9-second WAV file that contained a sped-up sample from the song “Whistle Stop”[17] by Roger Miller, written for the 1973 Disney cartoon Robin Hood.[18] Though the original site is now gone, mirrors were put up by WebHamster in February 1999 and educator Lee Sonko[19] in 2002.
One of the first viral videos to star a hamster was uploaded on March 23rd, 2007, by YouTuber lumpymangos’s channel[7] titled “Hamster Vacuum!” which features a hamster quickly eating a line of seeds. As of September 2014, the video has gained over 6.2 million views. A similar video titled “Smoke – The Amazing Hamster Storing Food” was uploaded by YouTuber soundorphan[8] on August 11th, 2007. As of September 2014, the video has gained over 4 million views.
On May 29th, 2008, YouTuber ksdrummergirl[23] uploaded a video titled “Swimming Hamsters.” As of September 2014, the video has gained over 3.7 million views. On December 8th, 2008, YouTuber katklub[22] uploaded a video titled “Skateboarding hamster!!” As of September 2014, the video has gained over 8 million views.
On February 27th, 2009, YouTuber ParryGripp[21] uploaded a video titled “Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom – Parry Gripp” which features a hamster eating quickly, as of September 2014, the video has gained over 22.8 million views. On August 29th, 2012, YouTuber Vinícius Arantes[24] uploaded a video titled “2 Hamsters 1 Wheel.” As of September 2014, the video has gained over 5.7 million views.
On May 25th, 2012, the YouTuber Athanasius Mike[9] uploaded a video titled “Adorable Hamster gets Shot and pretends to be dead.” The video was covered by many websites including The Huffington Post[10] and ABC News.[11] As of September 2014, the video has gained over 11.2 million views.
Fandom
As of September 2014, a search query for “hamster” on YouTube[1] yields more than 2.1 million results. On June 3rd, 2011, the r/hamsters subreddit[2] was created, as of September 2014, the subreddit has gained over 2,000 readers. On November 20th, 2011, the fan run Tumblr blog hamster-tastic[4] was created and on June 20th, 2013, Tumblr blog hamsters-in-cups [5] was created. As of September 2014, there are over 110,000 fan art submissions on DeviantArt[6] tagged hamster.
Related Memes
Hamster Dance
Hampster Dance is one of the earliest single-serving sites, featuring rows of dancing hamster GIFs set to a sped-up sample of the song “Whistle Stop” by Roger Miller. The site became popular in the late 90s through e-mail, blogs and bait & switch pranks.
Hamster on a Piano
Hamster on a Piano is a viral video first uploaded by a YouTube user named arcobalenoverde in February 2007. The minute-long clip, which shows a white hamster lying on top of piano keys and eating popcorn, became so popular that it gave way to several spin-off videos of animals doing other cute things.
Hamster Butts
Hamster Butts is a Japanese photo fad highlighting the buttocks of the furry rodents from the rear side view, which was inspired by a book with the same name published in March 2014.
“All in all, Hamuketsu is the best.”
Hamsters Eating Tiny Food
On April 29th, 2014, YouTuber HelloDenizen[12] uploaded a video titled “Tiny Hamsters Eating Tiny Burritos – Episode 1.” The video was covered by many websites including The Huffington Post[13] and Gawker.[14] As of September 2014, the video has gained over 8.4 million views.
On May 7th, YouTuber AprilsAnimals[15] uploaded a video titled “Tiny hamster eating a tiny pizza.” As of September 2014, the video has gained over 2.5 million views. On September 16th, HelloDenizen uploaded a video titled “Tiny Hamster vs Kobayashi (Ep. 3).” The video gained over 370,000 views within 48 hours.
Search Interest
External References
[4]Tumblr – hamster-tastic
[5]Tumblr – hamsters-in-cups
[7]YouTube – lumpymangos’s channel
[8]YouTube – soundorphan
[9]YouTube – Athanasius Mike
[10]The Huffington Post – Hamster Plays Dead: Adorable Pet Gives Oscar Winning Performance In YouTube Clip
[11]ABC News – Hamster Plays Dead in Viral Video
[12]YouTube- HelloDenizen
[13]The Huffington Post- ‘Tiny Hamsters Eating Tiny Burritos’ -- Need We Say More?
[14]Gawker- Tiny Hamsters Eat Tiny Burritos, And Now Also Tiny Pizza
[15]YouTube- AprilsAnimals
[16]The Hampster Dance: Internet Archive (no sound)/Mirror
[17]Wikipedia – Robin Hood (1973 film) # Soundtrack
[18]Wikipedia – Robin Hood (1973 film)
[20]WIkipedia – Hampster Dance
[21]YouTube – ParryGripp
[23]YouTube – ksdrummergirl
[24]YouTube – Vinícius Arantes