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

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.

If you want the presentation/showable colors you must breed out d (dilute).

The letter "C" is really fun!!!
C = a normal amount of color. There are many small c genes which causes havoc in the C pair. They create colors impacted by other small c genes in the same rabbit, even when they are not in control.

In each of these rabbits we have only changed one set of genes
CHINCHILLA is cch with a large A (for Agouti)
change the E on a Chinchilla to ee and you have FROSTED PEARL

Siamese Sable is
simply a Chinchilla without the Agouti gene

Give the Siamese Sable dd for dilute and you have a Smoke Pearl
ONLY THE SIAMESE SABLE is a PRESENTATION COLOR
cch gene which makes a rabbit shaded, such as Siamese Sable or Seal, there are three degrees of this gene. If you add capital A to these shaded rabbits you get Chinchilla. Each can be influenced by other degrees of the cch gene and make darker or lighter colored shaded rabbits. This effect can make poor Chins called Sable Agoutis.


Pointed White
(often called Himalayan)

cH This small c gene that allows color on the ears, feet, nose and tail of a rabbit. This gene makes Pointed Whites. It only allows the color to express on the points but DOES NOT CHANGE THE COLOR a rabbit is. This is why you can get Agouti pointeds and Chocolate, Lilac and Blue pointeds. Be CAREFUL as you can get Tan Pattern Pointed Whites.

Plain small c. The very bottom of the heap is the simple c which is the gene for the albino or ruby eyed white. It will also impact all the other small c type genes and make them appear lighter. It is the only small c gene that will not bleed though when paired with C.
It is almost impossible to tell by looking at a small c family rabbit which two small c genes are at work. A c ch to the 3rd power paired with plain small c may look just like c ch to the 2nd power paired with another c ch to the 2nd power. Breeding shaded rabbits can be a real challenge for this reason.

If you want the presentation/showable colors of Lionheads you will not need cH

RED GENE - WIDE BAND FAMILY

Here are examples of the Red Gene Family


RED FAMILY - Self
Tortoise


RED FAMILY - Shaded
Sable Point
or a Siamese Sable with ee


RED FAMILY - Agouti
Orange
can also be Fawn depends on modifiers


RED FAMILY - Agouti in shaded,
Frosted Pearl
this would be Chinchilla with large E

e is the letter locus used to represent the red family, often called the Wide band family, of colors. The small e gene limits the normal expression of color. ( It blocks out most of the deep colors from the coat.) So a rabbit that is AA BB EE is Chestnut but if you change the EE to ee you now have a Sandy or Golden Fawn or Red or Orange (depends on modifiers) all are basically Chestnut with the deep colors blocked out.

If you change the large E on the black Lionhead at the left to a ee you will have a the Tortoise Lionhead on the right.

E = the normal extension of color
e = limited deep color extension.

Small e seems to have some impact in certain colors even when paired with large E. Many Chestnuts who carry e seem to lack belly undercolor and have incorrect light surface color. e is strange when it expresses in the self since that is how you get Tortoise. Tortoise is AA BB DD ee. The gene seems to have the most trouble with limiting the color darkness on the sides of the rabbit and so many people who do not know better think Tortoise is a shaded color - IT IS NOT.


Young Tortoise showing a deep rufus modifier


Tortoise color can darken and become smutty with age.


Tortoise in Dilute
(Large D has been replaced by dd)


FOX (Tortoise Otter)
(This a Tort with a Tan Pattern Gene NOT AN AGOUTI )


Sable Point MARTEN
(A Sable Point with a Tan Pattern Gene NOT A FROSTED PEARL)

eJ = is the gene that makes Harlequin.


Harlequin - Japanese
in Black & Orange


Harlequin - Japanese
in Blue & Fawn

The Harlequin Pattern is divided into two color families.
Magpie (lacking the orange or fawn color) &
Japanese


Harlequin - Magpie

Harlequin is the solid version of the broken pattern called TRI COLOR (seen in other breeds such as Mini Rex or some Lop breeds). It is dominate over just small e but can be hidden by a big E. Once you have it do not breed it into any colors not ee (so you can see it expressed and know that it is there). Do not breed it to selfs (black, blues, sables - they will mask it). Do not breed it to Agoutis since it will make Harlequin miss-mark Chestnuts, and most other breeders will hate you and your breeding stock.

If you want the presentation/showable colors you must breed out e j (Harlequin).

In addition to the genes we have covered here there are genes for Broken, Blue Eyed White, and Steel and more.

Some of these are simple dominate/recessive combinations while others are like the C family and have degrees and and the ability to impact other genes on the same gene spot or in other pairings.
PLEASE NOTE: The Harlequin gene is all over the Lionheads imported into the USA and if you find you have it please try to control it while you work on improving your herd. I also have seen quite a bit of the Steel gene. If your herd carries it please let others know.

Remember all colors can be used as stepping stones to were you want to go with your herd as long as you understand where they are and do not sell them to people who do not desire them in their herds. If it is your desire to "work" on additional colors once the breed has been recognized - good luck.

for informatin on
UNDERSTANDING LIONHEAD
MANE GENETICS
by Gail Gibbons

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