Rhön rabbit
The Rhön rabbit is a small breed of rabbit (ideal weight 2.8 to 3.2 kg) with an irregular gray-white / white piebald coat. In the breed classification of the Central Association of German Racial Rabbit Breeders , it is assigned to Division III (small breeds weighing up to 3.3 kg).
Appearance
The breeding goal describes that the distribution of the color spots is irregular, the color distribution should resemble that of a birch trunk; white is to be regarded as the predominant basic color. Genetically, the Rhön rabbit is a combination of the Japanese drawing with the chinchilla factor . Since the chinchilla factor as an allele of the albino series prevents the formation of the yellow pigment in the fur, the yellow areas of the fur in the Japanese rabbit are white in the Rhön rabbit . In addition, the Rhone rabbit differs from the larger Japanese by the uneven distribution of color, which requires regular, larger color fields. The hereditary formula of the Rhön rabbit is:
- achbjCDG (g) (German symbols) or A (a) Bcchi2Dej (English symbols).
As in the case of the Japanese , it is unclear whether the displacement of the wild color factor in the breed has been completely successful .
The name of the breed is derived from its area of origin, the Thuringian Rhön .
history
Rhone rabbits were bred from 1970 to 1973 by Karl Becker and his son from Stadtlengsfeld . The goal was a rabbit whose coat color should resemble the trunks of the birch trees in the Rhön. To outbring the breed, Japanese-colored animals from litters of the Rhenish piebald were crossed with small chinchilla rabbits, which resulted in animals with the desired color distribution being obtained relatively quickly. Becker later crossed Alaska rabbits in order to suppress the wild color factor and to keep the black color of the badges more pure. As early as 1973 the new breed could be shown at the GDR winner exhibition in Markkleeberg . In 1981 it was recognized as a breed in the GDR ; in the same year Rhön rabbits were shown in the Federal Republic, where they were recognized in 1986. Today Rhön rabbits can be seen regularly at exhibitions. In 2012 the Rhön rabbit was voted Rabbit Breed of the Year in Germany.
Similar races
The Japanese rabbit is larger (3.75 to 4.25 kg) and has regular black and yellow markings. The irregular color distribution, as it is shown by the Rhön rabbit today, was also permitted in the Japanese in the past. The magpie rabbit ( "Magpie" or "Eksterkonijn" ) exists in England , the USA and the Netherlands . Although it has the same genetic formula as the Rhön rabbit, it is larger (in the Netherlands ideal weight 3.5 to 3.9 kg) and shows the regular distribution of the color fields required by the Japanese.
literature
- Standard van de Konijnenrassen, Cavia´s en kleine Knaagdieren , Nederlandse Konijnenfokkersbond, Venlo, 1990
- A. Franke: Rhönkaninchen , in: The small animal breeder - Rabbit 5/1999 ISSN 0941-0848
- John C. Sandford: The domestic rabbit , 5th edition, Blackwell Science, Oxford 1996 ISBN 0-632-03894-2
- Wolfgang Schlolaut: The big book of the rabbit , 2nd edition, DLG-Verlag, Frankfurt 1998 ISBN 3-7690-0554-6
- http://kaninchenzucht.de/forum/read.php?3,152904 (accessed on April 11, 2012)
