The Basics of Rabbit Colour Genetics

This post is Lesson 1 in our Rabbit Genetics Illustrated series. 

The recipe for a rabbit's colour is marked by a string of letters, each representing a specific ingredient. The letters will always range alphabetically and in pairs from A to E. That is the standard recipe. 

AA BB CC DD EE

Every rabbit inherits half of each pair from their mom and half of each pair from their dad. In the example above, the rabbit received A B C D E from mom and they received A B C D E from their dad.

On occasion, you may see additional letters added after the last position of EE. Those generally represent additional patterns or qualities which are involved. They are noted if they are important to note for that rabbit, but in general are omitted if they do not apply. More on those later. The first 5 spots from AA to EE are never omitted, though they may be marked as blank if they are unknown. 

In some cases, you may not be able to identify one or more of the ingredients in a rabbit's recipe. When that happens, the unknowns are marked with and underscore symbol. 

A_ B_ C_ D_ E_

In some cases, you may see many blank spaces marked. For example, this is the recipe for a Red Eyed White (REW) rabbit when all you know is that it is a REW and do not know what other possible genes it is actually hiding. 

__ __ cc __ __

Within each pair of letters, some letters will be marked as capitals, others will be lower case, and some may even have addition letters added. These are all notations representing different qualities. Having an understanding of what specific qualities these notations are describing is what will allow you to instantly picture what that rabbit looks like and what it will be able to produce. So let's dive in!

Continue forward to Lesson 2! 

The B Locus: It's Black or Brown