Rhinelanders

[shadow rabbit10]

She's cute!

 

[Duckchick2011]

Thank you!

It's called calico, Rhinelanders are like the calico cats of the rabbit world but they usually white with just calico markings. She is a sport(a completely calico rabbit), which isn't showable but can be used to breed showable rabbits which is what I'm hoping and praying for.

 

[shadow rabbit10]

I was wondering why she was solid. I have never seen or heard of Sports. Very cool.

 

[3PaintedButtons]

Thank you!

It's called calico, Rhinelanders are like the calico cats of the rabbit world but they usually white with just calico markings. She is a sport(a completely calico rabbit), which isn't showable but can be used to breed showable rabbits which is what I'm hoping and praying for.

I believe the color is tortoise shell not calico. They have to have white to be a calico, tortoise shells are orange, brown and black. Atleast I know this is definite with cats and I'm pretty sure it applies to rabbits too from what I researched when I got my rabbits. Either way she is very pretty! I have two rabbits that are the same color and a white and black harlequin and I have no clue what to call my male rabbit's color lol.

 

[Bunnylady]

That is a pretty rabbit! I have a cat that is exactly that color-didn't know it came in bunny. Thanks for sharing

In cats, the color is called Tortoiseshell. It's a sex-linked color, meaning you almost never see a male that color. The "official" name for what is commonly called calico is "Tortoiseshell and White."

In rabbits, that color is called harlequin, or if you want to be picky, Japanese harlequin. There is a breed of rabbit called the Harlequin that only comes in that pattern. In the Harlequin breed, the color is supposed to be displayed in large patches, hopefully forming a checkerboard-like pattern (as a long-time Harlie breeder, I can tell you, it doesn't happen that way very often!) There are several breeds of rabbit that combine the broken pattern with the harlequin pattern and call the results a Tricolor.


Rhinelander breeders don't care about large patches of black and orange, because the breed standard calls for both colors in the areas where there is color on the rabbit - a lack of either is a DQ. The trickiest part of breeding Rhinelanders is that little detail - you can have one with color in all the right places, but if it lacks either black or orange in one of the areas, it's unshowable.

The white areas on a Rhinelander (or an English Spot too, for that matter) are caused by the Broken gene. There are lots of little helper genes (called "modifiers") that fine-tune just how it gets expressed, but the basic pattern is caused by the Broken gene. Generally speaking, if a rabbit gets 1 copy of the Broken gene from one parent, and one copy of the solid gene from the other, it has color on the ears, color around the eyes, color on its nose, some color on its body. It may have colored spots on its elbows, a spot on its cheeks, and a double row of spots on its belly; a lot of just how much and where depends on the modifiers. If a rabbit gets a copy of the broken gene from both parents, it usually has color on the ears, maybe some around the eyes, a little near the nose, and almost no color on the body at all. That is referred to as a "Charlie," and is unshowable in any breed.

Since a Charlie is unshowable, the "ideal" broken-patterned rabbit has 1 Broken gene, and one solid gene. You breed 2 animals like that together, and you get 25% Charlie, 50% "good" brokens, and 25% solids (understand, those ratios are based on large numbers, you most likely won't see those exact numbers in a single litter). Not only Rhinelanders, but English Spots and Checkered Giants throw solid "sports" as well - they just aren't showable, just as those very lightly marked "Charlies" aren't showable.

BTW, a black and white harlequin is called a Magpie!

 

[Duckchick2011]

Thank you for clarifying guys!

Lots of good info here! I lay the blame of my mix up to the ARBA site which referred to the rabbits as the "Calico of the fancy" LOL

Oh I thought I might add, although Charlies and Sports aren't showable you can breed them together to get a whole litter of broken rabbits. You just have to be careful when choosing the right Charlie and the Sport so that you don't end up with a litter of perfectly fine spotted rabbits that are miss-marked in someway...of course you run that risk with breeding solid to broken as well.
Her last litter she was breed to a normal broken buck and almost all of the kits came out broken but only a handful were properly marked. Which seems to be the tricky part with Rhinelanders

 

[3PaintedButtons]

In cats, the color is called Tortoiseshell. It's a sex-linked color, meaning you almost never see a male that color. The "official" name for what is commonly called calico is "Tortoiseshell and White."

In rabbits, that color is called harlequin, or if you want to be picky, Japanese harlequin. There is a breed of rabbit called the Harlequin that only comes in that pattern. In the Harlequin breed, the color is supposed to be displayed in large patches, hopefully forming a checkerboard-like pattern (as a long-time Harlie breeder, I can tell you, it doesn't happen that way very often!) There are several breeds of rabbit that combine the broken pattern with the harlequin pattern and call the results a Tricolor.


Rhinelander breeders don't care about large patches of black and orange, because the breed standard calls for both colors in the areas where there is color on the rabbit - a lack of either is a DQ. The trickiest part of breeding Rhinelanders is that little detail - you can have one with color in all the right places, but if it lacks either black or orange in one of the areas, it's unshowable.

The white areas on a Rhinelander (or an English Spot too, for that matter) are caused by the Broken gene. There are lots of little helper genes (called "modifiers") that fine-tune just how it gets expressed, but the basic pattern is caused by the Broken gene. Generally speaking, if a rabbit gets 1 copy of the Broken gene from one parent, and one copy of the solid gene from the other, it has color on the ears, color around the eyes, color on its nose, some color on its body. It may have colored spots on its elbows, a spot on its cheeks, and a double row of spots on its belly; a lot of just how much and where depends on the modifiers. If a rabbit gets a copy of the broken gene from both parents, it usually has color on the ears, maybe some around the eyes, a little near the nose, and almost no color on the body at all. That is referred to as a "Charlie," and is unshowable in any breed.

Since a Charlie is unshowable, the "ideal" broken-patterned rabbit has 1 Broken gene, and one solid gene. You breed 2 animals like that together, and you get 25% Charlie, 50% "good" brokens, and 25% solids (understand, those ratios are based on large numbers, you most likely won't see those exact numbers in a single litter). Not only Rhinelanders, but English Spots and Checkered Giants throw solid "sports" as well - they just aren't showable, just as those very lightly marked "Charlies" aren't showable.

BTW, a black and white harlequin is called a Magpie!

Thanks, I had a good website that descibed all the colors etc but I lost it and couldn't quite remember. My rabbits are pets not show or breeder rabbits so I don't pay too much attention to correct term for the colors but now I know. I love Harlequins rabbits, I just like multi colored animals in general lol. All my female rabbits are harlequins and my male I don't know what he is but he is different color browns, orange and white, my cats are tortoiseshells and my dog is a merle.

 

[Ally Rose]

The pic where she's eating grass-- ADORBS

 

[Duckchick2011]

LOL Thanks!