Astrex / Astrakhan links & Information

[2CrazyFools]

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.

I've been doing some rummaging through the web both current website and past dead website and thought, it'd be really handy to have these sitting somewhere for later reference, and maybe for anyone who does a search for more information like I have.

Many of these were accessed through the WayBack machine, so don't be alarmed if the website looks funky. Please let me know if there's any more to add!

Facebook group for Astrex, curly coated rabbits

Marna Kazmaier at Rabbit Agility

Yahoo group for Astrex coated rabbits

Duman's Ark Astrex rabbits

Astrex grading system

Ragtatter Exotics -Astrex Project

MEMIM Encyclopedia - Astrex or Astrakhan -Rex

Rabbit Geek

West Australian Rabbit Council

Astrex profile

British Rabbit Council Standards. Rough Coated Rex; Opossum

British Rabbit Council Standards. Rough Coated Rex; Astrex

Loretta Bowman's website

Mythical Danes Rabbitry

Practical Rabbit Keeping - Rabbits for Pets and Profit. By G Townsend

Possibly a broken astrex Holland Lop

Willow Island Lionhead Rabbits -Astrex

Cute as a Button Bunnies -Astrex mini-lop

Hoppity Acres Rabbitry - Wavy coats

Pet Place -Brief mentioning of astrex in the rex rabbit

The 'rex' type of coat in the domestic cat, by A. G. Searle and A. C. Jude

History of Rex rabbits by Nikki White, Astrex mentioned

Astrex lop from Indonesia

This excerpt is interesting, must have been written before the wavy coat started popping up in all sorts of rabbit breeds. The internet sure has made connecting across countries much easier to find specific genes cropping up elsewhere.

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.

Few papers found on a FB group.
View attachment CRARY und SAWIN - 1959 - INHERITANCE AND HAIR MORPHOLOGY OF THE WUZZY MUT.compressed.pdf
View attachment Astrex Paper.pdf

(This post will be edited as I accumulate more information.)

 

[Nymphadora]

Thanks for compiling a nice reading list for those of us who have too much time on our hands

 

[2CrazyFools]

No problem! Glad someone else will find use of the links, I just figured if I didn't put them somewhere that some of the dead websites I'd never find again since they aren't searchable through google. Then I realized others looking for information on the astrex coat might benefit from a list as well... so the rabbittalk forum gets to host it, lol.

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

EDIT: Found elsewhere online for free.

 

[Nymphadora]

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

Tough choice, for sure... personally I love having a well-stocked library at home, but I also don't have rabbits to feed yet! If you think there will be nuggets of information in that book that you won't be able to find readily in the sites you've listed, maybe save up a bit for the book... or you could always try to find it at a local library or bookstore first to flip through it before you buy.

 

[2CrazyFools]

I'm going to try and see if I can't get that article through my college, I know when I was attending a university back in 2009 my father was able to use my school account to access any article he wanted he would simply put in the request and a few days later the article would be emailed to him. I tried lightly looking into that option online at my current college but couldn't find anything like that so I'm going to inquire at the desk when I visit the campus in person on Monday.

I know none of my city libraries have any of the books that mention anything about this interesting coat, there were a few books that Google.books only had "snippet" views on that I really did want to read further (there was an old old country magazine from 1936 that mentioned it but I can't find it anywhere and google will only give me TIDBITS) so I tried to find these books at the library but no cigar. These are all too old. I mean, I could purchase one off Amazon for like, $195... HA!

Like this snippet. I want to read further and obviously google has the entire bloody book, but I can't access it anywhere. -_-

 

[Nymphadora]

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

 

[skysthelimit]

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

I'd like to know too.

 

[alforddm]

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

It might not be as much of a leap as you think. Most of the mutations across animal species, that appear similar, are actually mutations in the same genes. It's really fascinating and very helpful in locating disease causing mutations.

Here is a link to a series of articles I wrote a few years ago. It specifically refers to color but the principles are the same.

http://colorgenetics.info/general/color-across-species