Astrex / Astrakhan links & Information

Excerpt from [i:3qiuwyfy said:

Domestic Rabbit Breeds and their Histories[/i], by Bob Whitman":3qiuwyfy]

Astrex, or sometimes called the Astrakhan Rex, first appeared in England in 1931 in the stud of Mrs. A De Ville Mather of Yorkshire. Mrs. Mather said the first Astrex mutation occurred when she bred a Blue Rex buck to a White Pointed Lilac Rex. Neither parents nor grandparents carried this unusual water-wave or curly coat; in fact, the Astrex did not carry the complete curled coat until the rabbits reached six months of age, when the rabbits had their adult molt. That first litter only one Astrex appeared, and all Astrex could be traced back to it.

Dr. J.N. Pickard made an intensive study of the Astrex mutation at the Institution of Animal Genetics in Edinburgh, Scotland, beginning in 1932. He would report his findings in the Journal of Genetics, April 1941. Dr. Pickard, described the mutation as a simple automatic monogenic recessive to Rex. In a later report in the Year Book of the British Rabbit Council, 1943, he said that he believed that the Astrex factor is closely related with the Angora, combined with the fine-coated genes of that breed.

Mrs. A. De Ville Mather offered a limited number of this new Rex breed in 1935. At that time in England, though the breed was uncommon, stud fees ranged from $5 to $10, and show specimens were valued as high as $350. Astrex were imported from England to the United States in 1946 from the shed of a Mrs. E. Fearon of Thaxted in Essex. These rabbits were imported by Marcellus Meek, of Chicago, Illinois, and these animals were in all the colors known in England at the time: White, Blue, Lilac, Lynx, Havana, Sable, and Black. Though not recognized by the American Rabbit and Cavy Breeders Association, Inc., the breed was permitted to be judged by the British Standard. The adult weights were set at 5 to 7 pounds.

It is said that the pelts did not hold up well to tanning, and the breed became extinct in England, although curly coated Rex appears in a number of breeds of rabbits still to this day. A small band of fanciers are trying to bring the Astrex back here in the United States, with the most enthusiastic of them being Loretta Ann Bowman of Louisiana. This author has produced a number of them from one strain of Blue Lionheads, imported from England in 2001. Each litter would typically contain one blue curly-coated bunny, always Blue, and always a buck.

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Steven D. Lukefahr said:

Rabbit Production[/url]":3qiuwyfy]

Waved​

The wa gene, also a simple recessive, produces a wave-like effect in the Rex coat. The homozygous wawa rabbit is called an astrex. It is interesting that this gene elicits its effect in only the Rex breed. The wavy condition can occur only in the finer coated rex, and it may not be fully expressed until two years of age. The rate of wave structure development and the extent to which it occurs throughout the body coat are considered to be in part due to modifier genes. A photo of a rabbit with the wavy (Astrex) condition is shown in Fig. 16.7.

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2CrazyFools":t5mw4arv said:

I'm contemplating purchasing the article by J. N. Pickard but man, that's 3 bags of feed or a new rabbit....

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Nymphadora":12ix6n33 said:

That does sound like a cool article, pity it's so hard to get a copy

I wonder if the mutation for Astrex is similar in any way to the mutation that makes the Bashkir Curly horse's coat... although that would be a leap, I suppose. It does remind me of the Bashkir Curlies, though

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Nymphadora":1b4kapxy said:

That does sound like a cool article, pity it's so hard to get a copy

I wonder if the mutation for Astrex is similar in any way to the mutation that makes the Bashkir Curly horse's coat... although that would be a leap, I suppose. It does remind me of the Bashkir Curlies, though

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