Marten rabbit
As Marder rabbit one is Rabbit Breed referred to in the two versions United Marder (weight 4 to 5 kg) and Marder rabbits (sometimes small Marder) kg occurs with a weight from 2.5 to 3.25.
Appearance of the marten rabbit
The surface color of the marten rabbits (type marten) is brown or blue in a light to medium tint, depending on the color. An approximately 8 cm (small marten), 8–10 cm broader, not sharply delineated, dark stripe extends over the back of the large marten. This strip does not begin in the neck, but roughly where the ears of the animal, which are placed on its back, end. The legs and flower of the marten rabbit are also dark in color; the dark color of the legs should extend over the ankle. The head drawing includes the mask, which colors the muzzle dark and does not reach above eye level, the eyes are bordered dark. The ears are also darkly colored, the base is clearly visible. Below the eyes is the cheek point, from which a whisker always emerges. Due to the mask, the eye rims and the coloring of the ears, the so-called marten cross is formed on the forehead of the animals, two intersecting light stripes that run across the forehead and from the mask to the neck between the eye rims and the ears. Marten rabbits are born bronze, with the change of coat the color changes to the color typical of the breed, which is washed out again when the coat changes later, which makes breeding marten rabbits difficult for exhibition purposes.
The so-called type martens described in the standard are split-sized , i. H. Mating with one another only leads to 50% of animals that are properly drawn, 25% each are so-called dark martens and 25% Russian rabbits (in some breeding lines also albinos ). The coloring of the marten rabbits is caused by the marten factor belonging to the albino series . The German symbol for this factor is am, the English cchi3. In the case of the brown shade, the marten factor is combined with the monochrome factor g (a) in the case of the blue marten there is also factor d for the dilution of the black pigment. Marten rabbits are permitted in the colors brown and blue, the corresponding genetic formulas of the type marten are:
- Brown: amBCDg / anBCDg (German symbols) or aBcchi3DE / aBch3DE (English symbols)
- Blue: amBCdg / anBCdg (German symbols) or aBcchi3dE / aBch3dE (English symbols)
The (not recognized) chinchilla-colored (more correctly: wild-colored, since there is a different mutation than the chinchilla
factor ) type has the hereditary formula: amBCDG / anBCDG (German symbolism) or ABcchi3DE / ABch3DE (English symbolism)
In all colors, the albino factor can also be present instead of the Russian factor, this combination only leads to a slightly lighter sub-color.
History of the breed
The marten rabbit, like other rabbit breeds, arose several times in different places, but always with the participation of chinchilla rabbits , which is also obvious considering its genetics.
The following breeders are mentioned in the literature:
- David W. Irving, Freshfield near Liverpool , Great Britain, in 1923 as Siamese Sables.
- O. Brock, California as American Sables, 1924.
- M. Fraineau, Cognac in the Charente department in France , first shown in Paris as Zibelines in 1925.
In Germany, marten rabbits were obtained by chance from Emil Thomsen in Hamburg-Stellingen . Thomsen's goal was actually to breed an opossum rabbit . He mated Blue Viennese , rabbit rabbits , Havana , Thuringian and white Angora rabbits . On the advice of Joppich, he crossed small chinchillas and received bronze-colored young animals, which later turned into the marten color described above. Thomsen passed a Rammler on to Hans Nachtsheim , who clarified the genetic position of this breed. Another rammer came to Ziemer in Arnstadt via detours and without Thomsen's knowledge , with this animal other breeders built up stocks of marten rabbits. After Thomsen's death, Joppich took over his livestock and developed the breed further. The new breed was first shown in Altona adElbe in 1924 .
The name Marderkaninchen was chosen based on the color of the noble marten and stone marten , next to which they were also shown at the first exhibition for noble fur animals in Berlin in 1928 . It remains unclear in the literature how the combination with the Russian factor came about.
The great martens were developed in Czechoslovakia . To Fingerland, Martin Vrana from Zborovice in Moravia crossed marten rabbits with Californians around 1976/77 in order to breed a large marten rabbit. Corresponding animals with the coloring of the marten rabbit and the stature of the Californian have already been preserved in the third generation. In 1980 the animals were exhibited for the first time in Děčín and in 1981 they were recognized as a breed by the Czech breeders' association. With the evaluation regulations for pedigree rabbits in socialist countries, the great martens were also approved as a breed in the GDR . The breed was not known in the GDR until then, but according to Franke, on the initiative of Joachim Kapp, the chairman of the Marder Club (then a special breeding association), appropriate breeding programs were developed. Since there was hardly any possibility of importing animals, own breeding experiments were made with marten rabbits and New Zealanders , which led to the outbring of great martens by 1988. In 1990 large martens were also included in the German standard. According to Franke, large rabbits were bred as "Soviet martens" in the then Soviet Union in the dark (homozygous) color as early as 1931.
Similar races
The color of the Siamese rabbit is also due to the effect of the marten factor . Joppich already mentioned that he repeatedly saw animals with the color of the Siamese from the stocks he had taken over from Thomsen . For the history and special features of the Siamese rabbit, see the corresponding article .
The marten color is also recognized as a color variation for the color dwarf .
See also
literature
- W. Schlohlaut: The big book of the rabbit . 2nd edition, DLG-Verlag, Frankfurt 1998, ISBN 3-7690-0554-6
- Starke / Wischer: Practical rabbit breeding , 13th edition, licensed edition from Verlag Dr. F. Poppe, Leipzig in Neumann-Verlag, Radebeul and Berlin 1949
- F. Joppich: The rabbit . VEB Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag, Berlin 1967
- A. Franke: Big martens . In: Rabbit , 5/1997, ISSN 0941-0848
- J. Kapp: Das Marderkaninchen , part 1. In: Rabbit , 4/1998, ISSN 0941-0848
- J. Kapp: Das Marderkaninchen , part 2. In: Rabbit , 5/1998, ISSN 0941-0848
- J. Kapp: The marten rabbit , that's it. In: Rabbit , 6/1998, ISSN 0941-0848
- J. Kapp: Chinchilla-colored marten rabbits . In: Rabbit , 10/1999, ISSN 0941-0848
- J. Kapp: On the breed value of the marten rabbit . In: Der Kleintier- Züchter -Rabbit , 2/2006, ISSN 1613-6357
- J. Fingerland: Great Marten . In: Rabbit , 3/2000, ISSN 0941-0848