The main distribution area of the golden hamster is the fertile, agricultural and densely populated Aleppinian plateau in Syria, 280-380 m above sea level. The plateau area covers c.10,000-15,000 km². The Turkish and Syrian sites may form a connected distribution area, but data to confirm this cannot easily be obtained because of restricted access to the military-protected border zone between Syria and Turkey (Gattermann et al., 2001).