A hamster ("hemstır") is touted as a "rabbit-squirrel crossbreed" at a crappy pet store in Istanbul. From a cladistic perspective, this is the equivalent of calling humans "baboon-tree shrew hybrids."If a list could be made of the people least informed about their trade, Turkish pet-store owners would doubtlessly come at the first place. This is not always as funny as these mismatched labels. Especially for exotic pets, the dealers' rock-hard ignorance of their maintenance conditions ends up killing a lot of animals.
