Adorable "Spoon Eared" Rabbits???

[KKRabbitry]

Has anyone heard of "spoon eared rabbits"?
I stumbled on a website today: http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.a ... n-maus.htm
It's all in German, so that is the translated link. The original is here http://hof-gombert.beepworld.de/goldregen-maus.htm
You can translate any of the pages on the site via http://translate.google.com/
Ok, enough links.

:group-hug2: ARE THOSE THINGS TOTALLY CUTE OR WHAT?! Has anyone heard of "spoon eared rabbits" or "Löffelohr Farbenzwerg", as they call them, before?
They have some wild colors going on there as well.
We need some of these in the U.S. Let's start working on them and make them the 50th ARBA breed, shall we? :lol:
I have never had any desire to go through all the work of approving a new breed, but those are almost cute enough to make it worth it.

All I need is someone with copious amounts of money to import a trio for me, and we can get started!! Any volunteers?

I'm really curious how they developed that trait in the first place. My google search turns up nothing.

Anyway. Just cute rabbits. REALLY cute rabbits.........

 

[AmysMacdog]

They are really cute! I bet they would do well here in the US.
If I had money, I'd volunteer!!

 

[Silver Willow]

Adorable! They almost didn't look real... like soft toys or something

 

[PSFAngoras]

Holy cow!

You may have found the only dwarf rabbit I'd HAVE to have!!!

 

[dayna]

Super cute.

 

[Dood]

I did some research and I hope they never come here and are quickly banned in Europe.

Apparently the gene is lethal in the homozygous form, like peanuts in dwarfs, and there are other physical defects - http://bunny-breeding.beepworld.de/main ... cility.htm

Shortened or missing tail
A decrease in fertility or complications at birth, for does
An increase in mortalitly rate
Malocclusions
High susceptibility to disease
Pushed-in nose
Poor position of the hind-legs and strong tilt of the pelvis

http://s4.zetaboards.com/Rabbit_Addict/topic/9959589/1/

 

[dayna]

Oh yikes!

 

[Ivory]

Oh boy are they cute!

Never heard of them before so thanks for posting that link.

 

[AmysMacdog]

Oh darn, that's to bad but I'm glad you pointed that out Dood. I hope with those problems they don't last. I had to deal with malocclusions in French Lops. That alone sucks! Its a shame though, they are cute but rabbits in general have enough problems without breeding rabbits that have a hole list of things to begin with!

 

[KKRabbitry]

Dood, you had to go and kill my dreams! Lol. Darn.
I should have known there would be a hitch.

Freaky list of complications :x
I agree, it's probably best that a breed with that many issues does not get perpetuated any further. They must be a very frustrating breed to raise.
Just dealing with peanuts is hard enough, it would be nuts to have to deal with two lethal genes in one breed.

Although, most of those problems are already found in small breeds, especially Netherland Dwarves.

I bet their personalities are not so great either.
:rabbit-hop3:

 

[ladysown]

based on what I see in the variation of body types and what not.. they probably do alot of outcrossing.

Mind...based on the lists of genetic faults they have that doesn't surprise me...they'll be wanting to limit or reduce the changes of getting those faults.

 

[JDWest]

Really interesting!

 

[ilovehome]

Well, I'm glad I did not think those short ears were cute. Of course, they are the complete opposite of my elops' ears....I also have a basset hound. 'nuff said.

 

[akane]

oooo I need the VM chocolate! Cross to a healthy line of ND, cull for ear type, and I bet I could sell VM spoon eared sables for a small fortune to the pet market. Lethal genes have not stopped the breeding of any animal or color. It just requires a knowledge of genetics to avoid it. I have 2 lethal color genes in my chinchillas that I'm planning around- gen 3 is going to be a bit difficult, produced a lethal color horse, dealt with lethal roan in guinea pigs, lethal spotting in gerbils... Rabbits are probably the only thing I know of without lethal genes. All the other health complications are already found in weaker lines of ND.

 

[JDWest]

oooo I need the VM chocolate! Cross to a healthy line of ND, cull for ear type, and I bet I could sell VM spoon eared sables for a small fortune to the pet market. Lethal genes have not stopped the breeding of any animal or color. It just requires a knowledge of genetics to avoid it. I have 2 lethal color genes in my chinchillas that I'm planning around- gen 3 is going to be a bit difficult, produced a lethal color horse, dealt with lethal roan in guinea pigs, lethal spotting in gerbils... Rabbits are probably the only thing I know of without lethal genes. All the other health complications are already found in weaker lines of ND.

If there's a will, there's a way!

 

[Jessykah]

I think it is worth it to keep trying with this breed for a little longer. I am sure that with the developing of most domesticated animals, there have been challenges like this. I think there just needs to be strict selecting and culling to remove or lessen these traits. I do think it should come to the US and Canada, so people here can try their hands at improving the breed to eventually get it in the ARBA. Just my two cents.

 

[Dood]

I think there just needs to be strict selecting and culling to remove or lessen these traits.

And who is going to enforce this? The animal welfare laws in North America SUCK.

I am thankful that this gene was found in Europe as most of the countries there have MUCH stricter animal breeding laws and they may be able to select out the negative effects BUT as soon as they arrive over here all that hard work will quickly be destroyed the NUMEROUS ignorant or indifferent breeders found in North America.

Just look at all the animals born with KNOWN defects ...
- double Merle dogs
- twisty cats
- HYPP, OWLS and HERDA in horses
- double dwarf gene rabbits

and there are MANY MANY more.

 

[Jessykah]

I guess I was just putting my faith in Humans....also, I figure that whoever transports some over here will be spending so much money to do so, that they will take care and do the selections properly. Perhaps I expect too much from people?

 

[Birds Buns N Bees]

I don't even think they're that cute. To me they look defective, like there's something not quite right with them.

Usually, when physical traits are linked to genetic disorders, it's virtually impossible to just "breed out" the disorders without losing the connected "desirable" trait.

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

HAs anyone seen the movie "Bedtime Stories"? The eyes on that rabbit look like the eyes on 'Bugsy' the guinea pig!' anytime an animal is bred for traits that limit cranial size, there WILL be issues with vision, encephalic issues, sinus, malocclusion, etc-- as there is not enough bone to support the soft tissues and/organs. It only takes a generation or two to alter bone structure in a significant manner, but hundreds of generations for the softer tissues to reduce to the appropriate size.