Basic Genetics
Please excuse our mess while we work on these sections!!!
| Rabbit Coat Color |  |
Cavy Coat Color |
Genetics are a complex study of how genes exist, coexist, act and interact. But for the sake of simplicity, we are only going to talk about a few of the genes here that are important to most rabbit breeders. Coat type, dwarfing, and coat color are the three most important to most rabbit breeders. Let's start with the simplest of the three to comprehend: dwarfing.
The dwarf gene is a natural mutation from long ago which resulted in animals that were smaller and had very distinct differences in appearance to their non-dwarf relatives. The gene is a simply inherited trait which is incompletely dominant. All that means is that the appearance is controlled by a single locus, and that there are two "versions" or alleles of the gene and they can match up in any of three combinations. Each of those combinations will result in a different phenotype or appearance of the rabbit. The dwarf allele 'd' and the non-dwarf allele 'D' are the only two that can be seen in this locus, or place in the genetic code. Since all living things that contain genetic code can have only 2 copies of each allele, you can have three combinations. They are DD, Dd, and dd. DD is your double non-dwarf or "standard" rabbits. All rabbits except dwarf breeds are pure for this version of the gene. Then there is the Dd combination, these are the dwarf rabbits that are known so well. Breeds that include these are Mini-rex, Netherlands, Holland Lops, Britannia Petites, Polish, and others. The dd is a "double-dwarf" combination. Better known to many dwarf breeders as peanuts.
| D | d | |
| D | DD | Dd |
| d | Dd | dd |
Testing... Blue Point
| A- B- C- D- E- enen | Castor, Chestnut |
| A- bb C- D- E- enen | Amber, Chocolate Agouti |
| A- B- C- dd E- enen | Opal |
| A- B- C- D- ee (R, F, O) enen | Red, Fawn, Orange |
| A- B- chl- D- E- enen | Sable Chinchilla |
| A- B- chl- dd E- enen | Smoke Pearl Chinchilla |
| A- bb chl- D- E- enen | Chocolate Sable Chinchilla |
| A- bb chl- dd E- enen | Lilac Smoke Pearl Chinchilla |
| A- B- chlchl D- E- enen | Seal Chinchilla |
| A- bb chlchl D- E- enen | Blue Seal Chinchilla |
| A- B- chlchl dd E- enen | Chocolate Seal Chinchilla |
| A- bb chlchl dd E- enen | Lilac Seal Chinchilla |
| A- B- chdchd D- E- enen | Chinchilla |
| A- bb chdchd D- E- enen | Blue Chinchilla, Squirrel |
| A- B- chdchd dd E- enen | Chocolate Chinchilla |
| A- bb chdchd dd E- enen | Lilac Chinchilla |
| aa B- C- D- E- enen | Black |
| aa bb C- D- E- enen | Chocolate |
| aa B- C- dd E- enen | Blue |
| aa bb C- dd E- enen | Lilac |
| aa B- chl- D- E- enen | Sable |
| aa bb chl- D- E- enen | Smoke Pearl |
| aa B- chl- dd E- enen | Chocolate Sable |
| aa bb chl- dd E- enen | Lilac Smoke Pearl |
| aa B- chlchl D- E- enen | Seal |
| aa bb chlchl D- E- enen | Chocolate Seal |
| aa B- chlchl dd E- enen | Blue Seal |
| aa bb chlchl dd E- enen | Lilac Seal |
| aa B- chdchd D- E- enen | Self Chinchilla |
| aa bb chdchd D- E- enen | Self Chocolate Chinchilla |
| aa B- chdchd dd E- enen | Self Blue Chinchilla |
| aa bb chdchd dd E- enen | Self Lilac Chinchilla |
| at- B- C- D- E- enen | Black Otter |
| at- bb C- D- E- enen | Chocolate Otter |
| at- B- C- dd E- enen | Blue Otter |
| at- bb C- dd E- enen | Lilac Otter |
| at- B- C- D- ee enen | Black Tort Otter (Black Fox) |
| at- bb C- D- ee enen | Chocolate Tort Otter (Chocolate Fox) |
| at- B- C- dd ee enen | Blue Tort Otter (Blue Fox) |
| at- bb C- dd ee enen | Lilac Tort Otter (Lilac Fox) |
| at- B- chd- D- E- enen | Black Silver Marten |
| at- bb chd- D- E- enen | Chocolate Silver Marten |
| at- B- chd- dd E- enen | Blue Silver Marten |
| at- bb chd- dd E- enen | Lilac Silver Marten |
| at- B- chl- D- E- enen | |
| at- B- chl- D- E- enen | |
| at- B- chl- D- E- enen | |
| at- B- chl- D- E- enen | |
| Non-Recognized Colors | ||
GENETIC COLOR CHART
