Hamsters belong to the largest and most diversified order of Mammalia class, the Rodentia. Like its rodent brothers, rat and mouse, hamster is currently one of the most frequently used lab animals. Monoclonal IgG and IgM of hamster were first produced in the 1980s by creating stable hamster-mouse hybridomas. Although mouse and rat antibodies provide a convenient tool for many applications, the evolutionary proximity of these two species may restrict the antibody responses as they share many conserved antigenic structures. On the other hand, hamster, which is more evolutionarily distant, can be a suitable choice in areas where mouse and rat antibodies might not work very well. http://www.creative-biolabs.com/native-tm-hamster-antibody-discovery.html