Rabbit breed classification and photos with descriptions
Breeding rabbits attracts with the possibility of getting a quick offspring, quick weight gain and good quality fur skins. The breeds of rabbits that exist today are conventionally divided into meat, fur or fur and decorative.
By weight, domestic rabbits can be:
- large, the weight of an adult male exceeds 6 kg;
- average, the weight of such animals is mainly in the range of 3 - 6 kg;
- small, these are animals weighing from 2 to 3 kg;
- dwarf, weighing from 1 to 2 kg.
Rabbits differ in length and quality of wool, color, growth rate and number of rabbits per litter. Having studied the descriptions of the breeds of rabbits, photos of the best representatives of the breeding feature, you can get an idea of the available choice and find the best animals for your backyard.
In the conditions of the household farm, meat breeds of rabbits are most often bred. Such animals quickly build muscle mass and, when slaughtered, have a good yield of dietary meat. Some of the animals stand out in truly gigantic proportions.
Rabbit White Giant
An adult individual gains live weight up to 7 kg, while the livestock is raised not only for meat, but also for the sake of high-quality skins.
After cutting the carcass, the breeder receives about 3-4 kg of dietary lean meat. In the courtyard, this breed of rabbits reproduces well. Usually in offspring there are up to 11 rabbits, which are ready to go for meat already 2–4 months after birth.
Flandre rabbit or Belgian giant
If one breed of rabbits is old, but has not lost its relevance even today, is the Flanders or the Belgian giant. Although the animals stand out for their heroic physique, and the breed itself belongs to the meat, but thanks to the friendly disposition of the animals, these giant rabbits are often kept in the house as a companion and a pet.
The history of the Flandre rabbit shown in the photograph has more than four centuries. And it is impossible to name exactly the ancestors of these animals. But over the past centuries, the work of unknown breeders from Flanders has not been lost or disappeared, but is actively used in Europe, the USA and Russia. In modern large farms and in private farmsteads, several lines of Belgian giant rabbits are raised.
The smallest are animals that grow up to 6 kg, and truly gigantic representatives of the breed can weigh up to 10-12 kg.
Pedigree animals can have different colors, but the wool is always solid, thick, with a pile up to 30 mm long.
Rabbits of the Risen breed
Giant rabbits from Belgium were famous and bred throughout Europe, but at the end of the 19th, breeders in Germany were able to talk about the appearance of their own giant rabbits. This is how the Risen rabbit breed was created, which means "giant".
These are the largest animals in existence today. The weight of a male can reach 12 kg or more, while not only meat is appreciated, but also thick short fur of different colors.Breed animals have large ears, wide paws and a massive body. Due to the weight, the Risen rabbits are rather clumsy, but good-natured and intelligent.
Rabbits of breed Gray giant
The Belgian giant rabbits that appeared in the USSR after the war gave rise to new breed lines of domestic selection. The local livestock was used to obtain unpretentious, hardy and numerous offspring, and the overseas guest presented the rabbits with size and weight. As a result, another meat breed of rabbits, the Gray Giant, was registered. This happened in 1952, and since then the breeders of Russia have been actively using the achievements of scientists.
The breeding animals of this breed have a massive elongated body, strong legs and a large head. On average, an adult rabbit weighs 4 to 7 kg.
The pile cannot be called thick, therefore this breed of rabbits is not used to obtain fur. The color is gray, darker on the back than on the belly.
Rabbits of the California breed
Californian rabbits belong to the old time-tested breeds. Obtained in the south of the United States at the beginning of the last century, they still show good results and are bred both on an industrial scale and on personal farmsteads. The fur meat breed of rabbits was bred on the basis of a complex crossing of chinchillas, white rabbits from New Zealand and the Russian ermine breed. The new breed of rabbits stood out not only for their bright white color with contrasting spots on the ears, muzzle, paws and tail, but also for their excellent weight gain, fertility and fatness. With a short body and harmonious bones, the average weight of a Californian rabbit reaches 4.5–5 kg.
White New Zealand rabbit
The history of the breed of white New Zealand rabbits is more than a hundred years old. To obtain pure white meat animals, representatives of the White giants and local albino animals were used. The breed, even with a relatively low weight of animals, growing only up to 4.5 kg, and today retains its popularity due to the high quality of lean meat, unpretentiousness, early development and a large number of rabbits in broods. The breed characteristics of the white New Zealand rabbit include: snow-white fur without the slightest hint of spots, perfect bite, wide paws and back, silvery undercoat and red eyes.
Red new zealand rabbit
In addition to the white New Zealand rabbits, there is a red variety also used for fur and meat. The weight of strong, well-fed animals up to half a meter in length does not exceed 4.5 kg, but the relatively low weight of the carcass is compensated for by the high taste, fertility and endurance of the breed.
The peculiarity of this meat breed of rabbits is a bright unusual color, which can vary from a brick-red hue to a rich red.
Fine fur, pubescent paws, compact build - all this makes it possible to raise red New Zealand rabbits outdoors, even in rather harsh conditions.
Rabbit butterfly
Russian rabbit breeders have known the butterfly rabbit with the original color, which gave the breed its name, for more than two hundred years. It was in our country that the best results were achieved during breeding work. Today rabbits weigh not three kilograms, but almost twice as much as when they arrived from Britain. In addition, they are better adapted to local content.
If you look at the face of the animal, you can see a large dark spot, shaped like a moth with spread wings. The rabbit breed shown in the photograph owes its name to this spot. Other spots, already of arbitrary shape, can be seen along the body, around the eye sockets and on the ears. There is also a dark streak along the spine. The nails and tail are light. Spots on a rabbit butterfly can be in different shades from black to cream.
Rabbit French Sheep
The appearance of the sheep rabbits breed people owe to a spontaneous mutation, as a result of which the ears lost their usual vertical position and sagged, making the animals look like sheep. The change in appearance was noticed and fixed by selection. And today, fold rabbits are popular not only as farm meat animals, but also as pets.
The ancestors of modern breeds of rabbits with drooping ears was the English Fold. The first specimens of French ram rabbits were demonstrated in the middle of the nineteenth century in France. Unusual large animals first spread as a curiosity in their homeland, and then migrated to neighboring countries. The breeders of Germany had a great influence on the breed, as a result of a long selection they received truly productive fast-growing farm animals. The average weight of an adult male exceeds five kilograms, and the female is only slightly lighter.
In addition to a remarkable physique and excellent fatness, fold rabbits demonstrate high quality fur, and the color palette is wide enough, which only increases interest in the sheep breed, and fold rabbits can be seen in an increasing number of farms.
The only peculiarity that should be known to owners of such unusual animals is the negative effect of the mutation on the skeleton of rabbits. The same gene that causes the ears to droop causes the cartilage tissue to become coarse and ossified throughout the skeleton. As a result, females after one year of age often cannot give birth, and adult animals may have joint problems.
Angora rabbit
In addition to meat breeds of rabbits, animals with thick, long or short fur are popular, bred for fluff or skins. Angora rabbits are downy. Animals have a thick thin pile from 15 to 25 cm, and such a record length is maintained almost throughout the body, therefore, there are often long tufts of hair between the toes on the paws, there are brushes on large rabbit ears. The color of the rabbits can be different. Due to the abundance of honey, the animal seems large, in fact, the Angora rabbit rarely weighs more than 3.5 kg, to which it grows already at seven months of life.
The first information about an unusual breed reached Europeans at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The homeland of long-haired animals is Turkey, from where the outlandish rabbits first came to the Old World, and then to America. If the Angora rabbits shown in the photograph were originally a rare pet, today their fluff is widely used for the production of warm yarn, fabrics from it and ready-made clothes.
White downy rabbit
Another downy breed of rabbits was born in the USSR in the middle of the last century. Thanks to the crossing of the French Angora and local animals, the versatile White Downy breed appeared. Rabbits of this breed are bred for both meat and soft silky fur.
Today, the selection continues, and at the disposal of rabbit breeders there are animals not only white, but also blue, black, smoky animals. The animals have become more resilient, adapted for growing outdoors, and the weight has increased to 4 kg. If earlier the long pile of angora rabbits was very capricious and easily fell off, losing quality, then the fur of today's animals is much more elastic and practically does not change its appearance in any conditions of keeping.
Rabbit Rex
The old German Rex rabbit breed stands out for its extremely thick, short fur that gives the impression of a plush or sheared high quality sheepskin. In the USSR, the history of the breed began about a century ago. Rabbits Rex, despite the ban on the part of the German authorities, were secretly taken out of the country, were raised and gave birth to offspring already in the USSR.
Rabbits, famous for their soft velvety fur, also produce excellent meat.An adult grows up to 4–5 kg. And with a fairly light thin skeleton, the yield of lean dietary meat is significant.
The breed features of Rex rabbits include a large elongated body, small rounded ears, short, curved whiskers. Today there are many solid and spotted colors that diversify the fur skins obtained from rabbits.
Chinchilla rabbit
The Chinchilla rabbit breed shown in the photo was named after a small animal with surprisingly soft fur of an original color. As a result of selection in domestic rabbits, it was possible to repeat the appearance of this fur, obtaining a dense silvery-gray pile with a dark base, a light, almost white stripe in the middle of the hair, or a black tip.
Rabbit breed The Soviet chinchilla, obtained in the USSR in the last century, inherited valuable fur from the ancestors of French blood, but it became heavier, unpretentious and fertile.
The rabbit consistently brings up to 8 rabbits, while an adult animal weighs up to 5 kg. They are robust large animals with good health and fast weight gain.
Decorative rabbits
Gaining popularity in recent years decorative rabbits, different from those that are bred for meat and fur, smaller size, friendliness and emphasized attractive external appearance. That is why many animals have a cute "childish" appearance of the muzzle and the structure of the body, inherent in a rabbit, remains throughout life.
Domestic rabbits are conventionally divided by coat length, size and color. Today, in city apartments you can find both ordinary large animals, for example, the lop-eared rabbit Baran or a representative of the Angora breed, as well as miniature or even dwarf animals.
Dwarf rabbits came from Belgium to our country, due to their peculiar mane, they deserve the name lionheads. Elongated soft bristles are present on the nape, crown, chest and cheeks, as well as sometimes on the hind legs, forming fluffy "pants". The animals have a dense constitution, a weight not exceeding 1.7 kg and a character perfectly suitable for keeping indoors.
Dwarf Rex rabbits differ from large counterparts only in size and weight. Miniature animals are covered with short, softest fur, small curled whiskers and weighing no more than one and a half kilograms. At home, decorative rabbits are easy to train, smart and trainable. Dwarf Rex rabbits can be both monochromatic and variegated.
The unusual appearance of dwarf rabbits of the ram breed has become the reason for their incredible popularity among pet lovers. The animals retain the original shape of the ears and firmly knocked down bones, but at the same time they are much smaller than the usual representatives of the French sheep breed. Cute lop-eared rabbits have a calm character, do not exceed 30 cm in length and weigh about 1.5 kg. In newborn rabbits, ears are erect, but they begin to change shape only after a couple of weeks. Among the colors of the dwarf rabbit: chinchilla, white with blue or red eyes, blue, spotted.