WHY IS MY LIONHEAD THAT COLOR? Or how do I get the presentation/showable colors????

Rabbit Genetics are fairly easy to understand, if you just keep it basic and do not try to make it more complicated then it is. Keeping it basic is all I intend to do in this short space.

All genes are paired in twos - remember high school biology?

Black

Brown

So there are only two colors of rabbits BLACK and BROWN (Some breeds call brown ones CHOCOLATE) all the other colors are just versions of those two. Remember just two - black and brown. The code for that gene spot is "b" a capital B = Black; a lower case b = brown. A non-agouti rabbit is called a SELF.

In genetics the dominate gene is always the capital letter. So black is always dominate over brown. YOU WILL NEVER GET A BLACK RABBIT OUT OF TWO BROWN ONES. (I do not care what the pedigree someone sold you said, it just isn’t so.)

AGOUTI The letter "A" is used for agouti or banded hair shaft. Small a is non-agouti or self. Small at is a Tan Pattern rabbit. A is dominate over at and plain small a. Small at dominates over small a. LARGE A - AGOUTI. Agouti is a pattern NOT a color. Agoutis have a light belly and underside of the tail. They have light markings around the eyes, insides of ears, by the nostrils, on the underside of jowls. They will have light color on the inside edges of legs and tops of the toes.

Chestnut Agouti

On an Agouti the main body color has "ring color" That means when you blow softly into the coat it will fall open and show you at least three bands of distinct colors. The basic three bands are: the undercolor (or band of color at the skin), an intermediate band (the center band of color which creates the base color of the rabbit) and a surface band (the band on the outer edge which makes the ticking which overlays the base color of an Agouti rabbit). Agouti pattern rabbits often also show a heavy ticking of surface band color on the top of the tail and edges of the ears. The nape of the neck is also a very pale shade of the body color. Here are examples of Agouti pattern Lionheads (if you move the cursor over each one you will see the Self (non-agouti version of the color)

Agouti - CHESTNUT Self - Black

Agouti - CHINCHILLA Self - Siamese Sable

Agouti - FAWN Self - Tortoise

Agouti - OPAL Self - Blue

Agouti - SQUIRREL Self - Smoke Pearl

Agouti - FROSTED PEARL Self - Sable Point

TAN PATTERN SMALL at - TAN PATTERN. Small at is a Tan Pattern rabbit. A is dominate over at and at is dominate over plain small a. The Tan Pattern group have markings much like Agoutis. They have a light belly and underside of the tail. They have light markings around the eyes, insides of ears, by the nostrils, on the underside of jowls. They will have light color on the inside edges of legs and tops of the toes. THEY DO NOT HAVE RING COLOR. They are basically a self (solid colored rabbit) with the Tan Pattern marking pattern. They do carry silver or orange ticking that runs up the lower sides and around the rump. This not as noticeable on Lionheads as that is where the flank wool is carried.

Otter Variety - Tan Pattern, rabbits should carry a Tan overlay or edging on the silver markings. Otter is the proper name when you are talking about non-shaded members of the Tan Pattern Group. Marten Tan Pattern rabbits have beautiful pure silver/white marking and should carry NO trace of Tan or Orange. (If you see Tan on your Marten is is simply a BAD Otter). Marten is the proper name for rabbits in the Tan Pattern group that are shadeds. Note Tan overlay on this Otter baby Lionhead at left. Below are some examples of Tan Pattern Lionheads

BLUE OTTER

BLACK OTTER

FOX (Tortoise Otter)

SABLE MARTEN

SABLE POINT MARTEN

If you want the presentation/showable colors you must breed out at (Tan Pattern).

Rabbits that carry B with A are Chestnut Agouti or Castor (depends on breed name). Remember all genes come in pairs and only one gene can dominate in any pair so AA BB is Chestnut but Aa BB; AA Bb; Aa Bb are also Chestnut. BUT RE CAREFUL - of these Chestnut rabbits, the two with small b will make Chocolate Agouti if breed together. The Aa Bb and Aa BB rabbits could have self colored bunnies.

CHOCOLATE

If you want the presentation/showable colors you must breed out b (brown). The letter "D" represents the depth of the color. D = dark color d= dilute color. Here are some examples - again move the cursor over the photo to see the dilute version appear

Chestnut becomes Opal	Black becomes Blue	Chocolate becomes Lilac

So - AA BB dd is a dilute Chestnut which is Opal. Change one of the small ds to a large D and you are back to a Chestnut. If you change the AA to aa and get aa BB dd you have a Blue (gray) bunny - a self Black dilute.