Did Hamsters Win World War II? w/ Dr. Rianna Walcott

Protect yourself from invasion get a breeding pair of hamsters, today! This week on Seemingly Unrelated we are deep diving into the history of the cutest widdle guys you have witnessed do unspeakable acts for unknown reasons to find out why exactly did we start keeping these rodents as pets?Our special guest this episode is Dr. Rianna Walcott Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Maryland, and Associate Director of the Black Communication and Technology (BCaT) Lab.To get to the origin of the pet hamster we have to answer some questions that really do seem completely unrelated like: Why are hamsters always running around at 2am? Is the arabic name for hamsters a major influence on the Dune novels? Are all pet hamsters actually siblings? and were hamsters the secret weapon in the allied invasion of Italy?All these questions will be folded up into a tiny burrito and stuffed into your cheeks plus the haunting issue of how many hamsters can one man fit into a lab coat before they all escape? This week on an endless exercise wheel of futility called Seemingly Unrelated.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Seemingly Unrelated is a podcast all about exploring how everyday things connect to major movements in history, politics and culture. Episodes drop every other week so subscribe to listen to more.🎵 Subscribe to the audio only version on: https://shows.acast.com/seemingly-unrelated📽️ Find the videos on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SeeminglyUnrelatedPod🎰 Want even more Seemingly Unrelated content? Get bonus episodes for as little as $2/month as well as the list of sources for this episode (free) on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SeeminglyUnrelatedFollow us on the socialsSubstackInstagramTikTokFacebookLinkedInBibliography:Barrie, Anmarie. Hamsters: As a New Pet. T.F.H. Publications, 1990.Bartlett, Patricia Pope. The Hamster Handbook. Barron’s, 2003.CDC. ‘About Leishmaniasis’. Leishmaniasis, 11 March 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/leishmaniasis/about/index.html.‘Dashing Hamsters: History of Hamsters’. Dashing Hamsters, n.d. Accessed 21 July 2025. https://dashinghamsters.blogspot.com/p/history-of-hamster.html.Goodwin, Leonard, and Gordon Wolstenholme. Dr Leonard Goodwin CMG FRS in Interview with Sir Gordon Wolstenholme: Interview 2. 2017. https://doi.org/10.24384/000457.‘Hamster, n. Meanings, Etymology and More | Oxford English Dictionary’. Accessed 21 July 2025. https://www.oed.com/dictionary/hamster_n.‘History’. Accessed 21 July 2025. https://achh.army.mil/history/book-wwii-internalmedicinevoliii-chapter1.‘National Hamster Council’. Accessed 21 July 2025. https://hamsters-uk.org/.Orndorff, George R., Michalle Maroli, Barbara Cooper, and Steven E. Rankin. ‘Leishmaniasis in Sicily (Italy): An Investigation of the Distribution and Prevalence of Phlebotomine Sandflies in Catania Province’. Military Medicine 167, no. 9 (2002): 715–18. https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/167.9.715.Pages, F., M. Faulde, E. Orlandi-Pradines, and P. Parola. ‘The Past and Present Threat of Vector-Borne Diseases in Deployed Troops’. Clinical Microbiology and Infection 16, no. 3 (2010): 209–24. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-0691.2009.03132.x.Peaker, Malcolm, and Dame Bridget M. Ogilvie. ‘Leonard George Goodwin. 11 July 1915—25 November 2008’. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 71 (April 2021): 213–27. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.2020.0050.Siegel, Harold I., ed. The Hamster. Springer US, 1985. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-0815-8.Smithsonian Magazine. ‘The Untold Story of the Hamster, a.k.a Mr. Saddlebags’. Accessed 21 July 2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-untold-story-of-the-hamster-aka-mr-saddlebags-1223774/.The Telegraph. ‘Leonard Goodwin’. 14 January 2009. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/4241645/Leonard-Goodwin.html.