I recently bought dwarf hamsters for my kids. Cute as hell and very friendly – they love nothing better than running about on your lap, up your sleeves and chirping contentedly to themselves. When they’re in the cage, and not sleeping, they spend a lot of time running in the hamster wheel. They need exercise (3 miles a night apparently) so this is goodness, but I’ve been trying to fathom why on earth a creature with a reasonably sophisticated repertoire of behaviours should take so much pleasure in so mindless an activity.

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