Mini Lop Origins and the History of Rabbit Breeds

[jeanluc_pippen_merry]

I had a thought today and wondered, what were mini lops before they became lop eared? If their ears didn't flop, what would they then be called?

How did Fuzzy lops come about?

How did Lionheads come about?

How did Angoras come about?

How did the Giants come about?

Just interested to know a little bit of history behind how these breeds came into existence. What breeds of rabbits were bred to get the ones we have today? Which ones are natural and weren't bred to be that way?

I thought there might be others interested to know this as well.

If anyone has any knowledge to share it would be much appreciated!

:thanks:

 

[pamnock]

Afantastic book thatI recommend by Bob D. Whitman is called "Domestic Rabbits & Their Histories, Breeds of the World".

American Fuzzy lops: Developed in the US in the 1980's by crossing Holland Lops and French Angoras.

Lionheads: The true history of the rabbits is uncertain, and there are a number of stories about how they were developed. Their mane is caused by a mutation, and a number of breeds have been crossed with them. They were importated to the US from Europe.

Angoras: The wooled mutation was believed to have originated in eastern Europe/China.

Giants: The Giants originated in Europe through selective breeding of the largest rabbits.

All domestic breeds that we have today were developed from the wild European Rabbit through selective breeding for particular traits.

I personally feel that the Silver rabbit is the closest approximation we have today to the European Rabbit, a comment also documented in 1895 by J. Simpson who stated in his book The Wild Rabbit in a New Aspect: The nearest approach to the wild rabbit, among tame kinds, is the dark "silver-grey", a beautiful variety, differing in no respect from the wild type except in colour . . ."

 

[TinysMom]

I will share a bit more about lionheads - but I'll make it brief since I've shared so much about them before.

The lionheads that were imported into the US were pretty large compared to what we have now. I (and other breeders) will frequently call them the "old style" lionheads. They laid flat on a table and were often 5 pounds or more.

When the lionhead breeders who were importing them wrote a standard for them - they created the standard so that the rabbits would be smaller and sit more upright. I forget exactly why they did this - I think they wanted something "different enough" that ARBA would accept it - but don't quote me on that.

So they bred the large lionheads with netherland dwarfs to bring down the size and with holland lops to give more bone density and to have the animals sit upright.

The animals that would win at showtables when I started breeding about 6 years ago - would now be laughed out of the showroom.

You can find out more about their history here - even though some of the information is outdated (Gail Gibbons is no longer the COD holder):

http://lionheadrabbit.net/geninfo1breed.htm

 

[jeanluc_pippen_merry]

Thanks guys. I will have to see if that book is available on Kindle. ^.^