--- title: Back-Flipping Hamster: Video description: Is your hamster supposed to do that? canonical: https://time.com/4078342/back-flipping-hamster-video/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-19T16:37:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:26:08.746Z og:title: Back-Flipping Hamster: Video og:description: Is your hamster supposed to do that? og:url: https://time.com/4078342/back-flipping-hamster-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Back-Flipping Hamster: Video twitter:description: Is your hamster supposed to do that? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Back Flipping Hamster Is Amazing and Also Possibly Malfunctioning by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Oct 19, 2015 4:37 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Oct 19, 2015 4:37 PM UTC How do you know if your hamster is broken? YouTube user Ivan Ivanovich recently [posted a video](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAHGjAUQpHtVX-lxvydoOYw) of a cage of hamsters with the title, “I think this hamster is broken.” After careful and repeated observation of the video (on a loop, for research purposes, naturally), Ivanovich may be on to something. The video shows a busy scene of hamsters running amok, but one hamster soon figures out how to rise above the rest and get all the attention for himself. He starts repeatedly back-flipping from the food dish. It’s adorable and compelling, but also completely odd. Like when a [Furby](http://time.com/3654139/husky-and-furby/)‘s motherboard [malfunctions ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wtGbJa0k7k)or a Roomba goes [crazy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6P%5F96nRvUc), but in actual mammal form. Does the furry little friend want to join the [hamster circus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tax-RPjzgec)? Is it [Runaway Ralph](http://www.amazon.com/Runaway-Ralph-Beverly-Cleary/dp/0380709538) just waiting for a motorcycle? Or is he simply a malfunctioning mammal desperately in need of some quality time in a hamster wheel? Best to watch the video a few more times and try to figure it out. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4078342/back-flipping-hamster-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4078342/back-flipping-hamster-video/"},"headline":"This Back Flipping Hamster Is Amazing and Also Possibly Malfunctioning","datePublished":"2015-10-19T16:37:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:26:08.746Z","description":"Is your hamster supposed to do that?","url":"https://time.com/4078342/back-flipping-hamster-video/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","Viral Videos"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4078342/back-flipping-hamster-video/","name":"This Back Flipping Hamster Is Amazing and Also Possibly Malfunctioning"}}]}] ```