Moonshine Stud

Quality home-bred rabbits bred true to type

Genetics

On the A locus, which governs the pattern of the coat, at_ denotes the tan pattern on a rabbit of any colour, ie, a paler coloured belly accompanied by ticking on the sides. The colour of the belly and ticking is also present around the nostrils, the inside of the ears, eye circles and the back of the neck. at is recessive to agouti but dominant to self. In this way, an agouti patterned rabbit can carry tan pattern and self pattern, tan pattern can carry self and self can only carry self.

A = agouti pattern
at = tan pattern
a = self pattern

On a shaded rabbit, with tan pattern gene, we get marten, for example marten sable, in which the rabbit has a white belly with white ticking up its sides. On a self rabbit, such as a black, we get the otter markings; a white belly with creamy, pale tan ticking on the sides.

The otter markings are independent of other genes but can be modified by them. For example;

at_B_C_D_E_ will be a black otter, but

at_B_cchd_D_E_ will be a black fox, as the cchd gene removes yellow, therefore removing the creamy ticking, leaving the ticking white.

Tans arise from an otter rabbit, lets say a black, possessing rufus modifiers, or red modifiers which add the deep rich tan colour to the belly and ticking. A black tan is genetically a black otter, with the addition of rufus modifiers.

The reason we cannot get a sable otter, is due to the sable's genotype before the pattern changes;

aaB_cchlcchlD_E_ would be a dark sable. As is seen, the cchd gene already removes the yellow from the coat and cchl removes yellow and also shades the existing colour. So otter is not possible as the creamy ticking cannot be present. Therefore with the addition of the tan pattern gene;

ataB_cchlcchlD_E_ a marten sable is produced. The pattern is present, but due to the lack of yellow, only white markings can be seen.

Lauren Spence

 



What colour am I?

More Information