Speakers of most dialects of English will pronounce that p. When a nasal stop (like n or m) is followed by an s, you get a brief period where you velum has moved into the closed position (the velum, otherwise known as the soft palate, flaps down when making nasal sounds like m or n, allowing air to go out through your nose; at (almost) all other times as you speak it is closing off the passage way allowing all the air to go out your mouth) but the articulators in your mouth (your lips for the m, your tongue for the n) are still in the closed position, so you pronounce a brief p after the m or t after the n. This is called an epenthetic stop. So, most speakers of English, particularly in rapid/casual speech, will say “ham(p)ster” and “Chom(p)sky” and “ten(t)se.”
I usually see speed-goats running like crazy for a few minutes (until I’m out of sight) and then they mosey on back to where they started, then all but one takes off at full speed again. I guess I’ve never seen one that had any reason to run for 30 minutes at a time. That is surprising to me, thanks for the link.
Then you pronounce it incorrectly. 
Well, if you’ve a taste for goat, these guys are easy to catch.
Part of the prevalence of “hampster” on the Internet might be due to the popularity of the old classic Hampsterdance website. And that site was in turn spelled that way by inspiration from the webmaster’s pet, Hampton.
Before this devolves into another lengthy argument about what it really means to be “faster,” how about if the OP sets some parameters.
If you are talking about the ability for a human to (eventually) catch an animal by running at sustained speeds for longer than the animal can (as Blake is), your answer will be very different than if you’re talking about a race where the human and the critter are running in a straight line for “X” distance.
You’ve obviously never been to a turtle race.
This is very much true. Assuming we are talking about specimens of the same species of quadruped.
That’s just an illusion. Rats run at a top speed of 6 miles per hour (9km/hr). Ferrets have a top speed of about 6.5km/hr (Taylor, Heglund & Maloiy, 1982 “Energetics and Mechanics of Terrestrial Locomotion” J. Exp. Biol 97). In comparison a very average human will manage 12km/hr (that’s equivalent to 20 seconds for a 100 metre sprint). A fast human of course will manage 24km/hr.
You can’t catch a rat or ferret because the animal is setting the conditions, by dodging and jinking. That is not the same thing as saying you can’t keep up with the animal. If you and the animal set out to run a distance of say 100 metres you would win by a huge margin.
The rabbits are probably the only small mammals able to outrun a human, and that’s because they have evolved to graze on open grassland and have comparitively long legs.
Actually it was probably a bit of an overstatement.
In cool conditions certainly grey wolves and we could probably add dholes, Cape hunting dogs, Ethiopian wolves, coyotes, red wolves and a few other similar large canids to the list.
Pronghorn of course, but there may be some antelope with similar abilities. I confess almost total ignorance of antelope (not that proghorn are antelope).
At least three kangaroo species.
The salient point I guess is that we actually could post tyhe list of animals that can outdistance a human. It’s just a dozen or so species, not thousands
Yes, but what kind of ballistic assistance?
I say the hamster has to be dipped in Vaseline so when he’s stuffed into the barrel of the air cannon, his fur creates a seal. Of course, if you use mousse instead of Vaseline, the hamster’s fur will form into fins from the rifling in the barrel, so he spins in flight for extra stability.
And if you use a moose instead of a hamster, you’d better get a bigger barrel.
Igooooor!, to the lab! 
I’m finding that really hard to believe.
The reason for the ‘p’ is that it’s hard to say ‘hamster’ without it sounding like there’s a P in it. the m ends with closed lips and the start of the s requires them open - unless you control your breathing carefully, the lips open between the m and s with a quiet plosive sound.
But I still don’t want to believe it’s listed as an accepted alternative in any reputable dictionary. Referenced, perhaps, but surely not valid.
Hamster.
Hampster. Yes indeed they sound the same. I have to learn how to say it correctly.
Hamster. Nope, Sounds like hampster.
Hamster. Sounds like hampster.
Hamster. Still sounds like hampster.
Hammmmster. Ok, that seemed to work.
Hamster. DAMNIT ALL! /tears-hair.
This video wins. I hope I didn’t wake up my family trying to stifle my insane laughter.
‘Hampster’ is given as an acceptable alternative in both the OED Online and my dead-tree Chambers New Ninth Edition. It’s not listed on AskOxford.com or Dictionary.com, though.
Personally, I don’t like the spelling, as I said.
Worth mentioning, as it’s far from a hollow point.
Wheezing Okay, it’s likely the entire office will now come down to see what’s so damn funny.
<chuckling> I’m guessing they did NOT get the thumbs up from the ASPCA. :eek:
It’s certainly no illusion that I can’t catch my ferret when we’re both running in a straight line—we’ve had many races in long, narrow hallways with no room to weave and dodge. Upon restrospection, perhaps the problem is that the ferret can accelerate faster than I can, and that, were the racecourse to be longer, I would eventually overtake her.