The length of rabbit ear

[Jamaldanny]

Is it true, a rabbit has longer ear if live in hot climate instead shorter ear in cold weather... Such as Netherland dwarf. In my country, Malaysia,Netherland dwarf tend to have longer ear. Some believe becoz of hot weather, some believe becoz of the fur grows lesser in length , so it seems the ear looks longer..... Any scientific evidence to prove it?

 

[AVIE]

Oh, can we see a picture of the ears. This is very interesting.

 

[helena]

In the wild ears do help to keep the rabbit's heat level down. The blood circulates through the ears and helps to cool it. I'm not sure that's the reason for the Netherland dwarf's ears though, as they are domestic rabbits. I would love to see some pictures though as AVIE said though.

 

[SableSteel]

No. "summer ears" is a myth. The length of a full grown rabbit ear is determined by genetics. However I do believe the growth rate can be affected by heat - from what I've seen rabbits born in the summer grow into their ears faster than ones born in winter. I live in Arizona and we still get rabbits with very short ears here, despite being very hot. The general population of netherland dwarfs in malaysia are likely not as close to the standard which can contribute to longer ears. There are more rabbit shows and show breeders in the US/UK/Aus/Europe than there are in malaysia, and the show rabbit hobby has been here for longer so competitive lines are more established.