Hamster wheels or
running wheel are exercise devices used primarily by
hamsters and other
rodents, but also by other cursorial animals when given the opportunity. Most of these devices consist of a runged or ridged wheel held on a stand by a single or pair of stub axles. Hamster wheels allow rodents to run even when their space is confined. The earliest dated use of the term “hamster wheel”, located by the
Oxford English Dictionary, is in a 1949 newspaper advertisement.