Completely lost on colors

[HCB]

Hey guys, apologies in advance, I've read and looked at all kinds of color charts recently and I think I'm not color blind but just color dumb.

Is there a rabbit colors and genotype for dummies book or article out there with pictures for people like me who just don't get the differences?

If someone could please help me identify if these are the same color or different colors and what actual color they are I would be extremely thankful, and then if you could point out to me how you came to that conclusion and why it's not other colors that look similar? Feel free to dumb it up, I'm lost!

These are Tamuk composites, buck, doe and 4 week old kit. (And then though I'm dumb on this I think the other 3 are black right? All from the same litter from that doe and buck)

 

[HCB]

Whoops, hear is the kit as well, had two of the buck in the first post.

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

Whoops, hear is the kit as well, had two of the buck in the first post.

That Kit is definitely a Chestnut

 

[HCB]

That Kit is definitely a Chestnut

Oh man, that was actually my first guess from the first color chart I found but I was second guessing myself when looking at the parents and multiple colors charts online!

How do you tell its a chestnut over (and I'm going off of memory here) something like a chocolate sable or some of the other similar colors?

 

[judymac]

Okay, there are a few things to consider with rabbit colors. All colors are made from the pigment melanin. There are two main options, the dark colors come from eumelanin, the yellow/orange/fawn/red shades are pheomelanin. The dark eumelanin comes in two versions, the dominant black option, and the recessive brown option, called 'chocolate', which are found on the B gene (think 'b' for black & brown). These are the full-strength, or 'dense' colors, which are dominant. The recessive versions are called 'dilute', where the colors are muted or diluted. Black becomes gray (called 'blue'), and chocolate becomes a pinky-beige (called 'lilac') These are on the D gene (think 'd' for dense and dilute). See, you've already got two of the five main color genes accounted for.

Agouti is wild rabbit color. It has two distinctive traits: 1) There are multiple colors on the hairshaft. The agouti gene turns hormones on and off that turn the dark and yellow melanin factories on and off, making bands of color. Generally, the bands are an outer dark band, a middle yellow band, and a base lighter dark band. 2) Agouti also has a pattern involved, with a light belly, light inside the ears, light eye rings, and light under the chin.

Agouti can come in any of the four dark colors: Black agouti is called 'chestnut agouti', or 'castor', depending on breed. The kits are born black, but even at birth you can see the inside of their ear is light. As the hair grows in, you will begin to see the banding on the hair, with black on the tips, chestnut brown (a mixture of black and fawn pigments), then a yellow band, and a slate gray base.

Chocolate agouti is also called 'cinnamon' in some breeds. They are born chocolate brown, with that same light inner ear, and will develop brown tips,with bands of chocolate, fawn, and a pinky-beige base. Blue agouti is called 'opal', the kits are born gray (not black) with the light inner ear, and develop a mostly shades of gray coat, with the white agouti patterning. Lilac agouti is called 'lynx', and is unique in that it has more of a fawn coloring (much of that has to do with the standard of perfection in some breeds that requires a white undercoat, which is related to the fawn genetics.) Again, you'll see that same white patterning of light belly, white eye rings, light inside the ears, and a fawn triangle behind the ears.

So, the first thing I look at when trying to determine color on a newborn kit--is does it have light/white inside the ears? If so, you are looking at an agouti-based color. It is easiest to tell which of the four main color options at birth, because the chestnut agouti will be black with white inside the ears (not all-white ears as with the White Ear gene, that's a whole different ballgame.) The cinnamon will look chocolate brown, the opal will be gray (not black and not brownish), and the lynx will be a light brownish color (not gray and not chocolate brown).

If you have determined it is an agouti, the next question is--do you have chinchilla/ermine in your herd? If so, the yellow pigment factories will be closed down, and so the agouti pattern will have pearly white everywhere the normal pattern will have yellow/fawn shades. The best place to see this will be behind the ears. The normal full-color (C gene) rabbit will have a yellowish triangle of fur behind its ears, on the back of the neck. In chinchillas, that triangle will be pearl white. The rabbits will look the same as full-color agouti rabbits at birth, the differences will become apparent once the banding grows out, and you don't see any yellow.

Agouti has a recessive side, called 'self'. This is where the rabbit is the same color all over. The belly isn't white, it's the same color as the rest of the rabbit. No eye rings, no banding on the fiber. The same four options are available in self-colored rabbits: black, chocolate, blue and lilac. The blacks will be born black with black inner ears and black bellies, the chocolates will be be all chocolate brown, the blues all gray and the lilacs a soft brownish shade.

Tan rabbits are like a hybrid, they have the agouti patterning with the eye rings and light belly, but the hair is solid like a self. This is where you get otters and martens. Otters have the full-color C gene, martens are the chinchilla/sable version. So, Tan is recessive to agouti, but dominant over self colors. You can tell marten/otter kits when the agouti pattern develops but not the rings on the fur.

If the rabbit is yellow (red/orange/fawn/cream), and has the self non-agouti gene, you will see one of the four main dark colors on the face/ears/feet/tail, and yellowish on the main body. We call these tortoise shell, 'tort' for short. It comes in black tort, chocolate tort, lilac tort and blue tort. Again, look at the kit when it is young, it's easiest then to tell black from chocolate brown from gray (blue) and lighter brownish (lilac). If it is yellow and has the agouti gene, it will be red/orange/fawn/cream all over, and have the white eye rings and light belly and light inside the ears Some breeds call this color orange, some fawn. The red rufus modifier will turn the rabbit redder. Dilute will make it lighter. (This is the most recessive color on the 'E' gene, called non-extension, or fawn.)

There are other options, like harlequin or steel, pointed whites, ermine, albino, Vienna blue-eyed white, broken (spotted), sable. . .but this will help with the most basic of colors. Look for the nestbox color to see if you are dealing with a color based on black or brown, and whether it is full dark black or chocolate brown, or a lighter shade (a dilute). Then we just add that color to the pattern.

 

[HCB]

Okay, there are a few things to consider with rabbit colors. All colors are made from the pigment melanin. There are two main options, the dark colors come from eumelanin, the yellow/orange/fawn/red shades are pheomelanin. The dark eumelanin comes in two versions, the dominant black option, and the recessive brown option, called 'chocolate', which are found on the B gene (think 'b' for black & brown). These are the full-strength, or 'dense' colors, which are dominant. The recessive versions are called 'dilute', where the colors are muted or diluted. Black becomes gray (called 'blue'), and chocolate becomes a pinky-beige (called 'lilac') These are on the D gene (think 'd' for dense and dilute). See, you've already got two of the five main color genes accounted for.

Agouti is wild rabbit color. It has two distinctive traits: 1) There are multiple colors on the hairshaft. The agouti gene turns hormones on and off that turn the dark and yellow melanin factories on and off, making bands of color. Generally, the bands are an outer dark band, a middle yellow band, and a base lighter dark band. 2) Agouti also has a pattern involved, with a light belly, light inside the ears, light eye rings, and light under the chin.

Agouti can come in any of the four dark colors: Black agouti is called 'chestnut agouti', or 'castor', depending on breed. The kits are born black, but even at birth you can see the inside of their ear is light. As the hair grows in, you will begin to see the banding on the hair, with black on the tips, chestnut brown (a mixture of black and fawn pigments), then a yellow band, and a slate gray base.

Chocolate agouti is also called 'cinnamon' in some breeds. They are born chocolate brown, with that same light inner ear, and will develop brown tips,with bands of chocolate, fawn, and a pinky-beige base. Blue agouti is called 'opal', the kits are born gray (not black) with the light inner ear, and develop a mostly shades of gray coat, with the white agouti patterning. Lilac agouti is called 'lynx', and is unique in that it has more of a fawn coloring (much of that has to do with the standard of perfection in some breeds that requires a white undercoat, which is related to the fawn genetics.) Again, you'll see that same white patterning of light belly, white eye rings, light inside the ears, and a fawn triangle behind the ears.

So, the first thing I look at when trying to determine color on a newborn kit--is does it have light/white inside the ears? If so, you are looking at an agouti-based color. It is easiest to tell which of the four main color options at birth, because the chestnut agouti will be black with white inside the ears (not all-white ears as with the White Ear gene, that's a whole different ballgame.) The cinnamon will look chocolate brown, the opal will be gray (not black and not brownish), and the lynx will be a light brownish color (not gray and not chocolate brown).

If you have determined it is an agouti, the next question is--do you have chinchilla/ermine in your herd? If so, the yellow pigment factories will be closed down, and so the agouti pattern will have pearly white everywhere the normal pattern will have yellow/fawn shades. The best place to see this will be behind the ears. The normal full-color (C gene) rabbit will have a yellowish triangle of fur behind its ears, on the back of the neck. In chinchillas, that triangle will be pearl white. The rabbits will look the same as full-color agouti rabbits at birth, the differences will become apparent once the banding grows out, and you don't see any yellow.

Agouti has a recessive side, called 'self'. This is where the rabbit is the same color all over. The belly isn't white, it's the same color as the rest of the rabbit. No eye rings, no banding on the fiber. The same four options are available in self-colored rabbits: black, chocolate, blue and lilac. The blacks will be born black with black inner ears and black bellies, the chocolates will be be all chocolate brown, the blues all gray and the lilacs a soft brownish shade.

Tan rabbits are like a hybrid, they have the agouti patterning with the eye rings and light belly, but the hair is solid like a self. This is where you get otters and martens. Otters have the full-color C gene, martens are the chinchilla/sable version. So, Tan is recessive to agouti, but dominant over self colors. You can tell marten/otter kits when the agouti pattern develops but not the rings on the fur.

If the rabbit is yellow (red/orange/fawn/cream), and has the self non-agouti gene, you will see one of the four main dark colors on the face/ears/feet/tail, and yellowish on the main body. We call these tortoise shell, 'tort' for short. It comes in black tort, chocolate tort, lilac tort and blue tort. Again, look at the kit when it is young, it's easiest then to tell black from chocolate brown from gray (blue) and lighter brownish (lilac). If it is yellow and has the agouti gene, it will be red/orange/fawn/cream all over, and have the white eye rings and light belly and light inside the ears Some breeds call this color orange, some fawn. The red rufus modifier will turn the rabbit redder. Dilute will make it lighter. (This is the most recessive color on the 'E' gene, called non-extension, or fawn.)

There are other options, like harlequin or steel, pointed whites, ermine, albino, Vienna blue-eyed white, broken (spotted), sable. . .but this will help with the most basic of colors. Look for the nestbox color to see if you are dealing with a color based on black or brown, and whether it is full dark black or chocolate brown, or a lighter shade (a dilute). Then we just add that color to the pattern.

Wow, a lot clearer and better info here than any color charts or other information I've seen online! Read through it once but with my brain I can tell I'm going to have to save this and keep coming back for reference, great information! Thank You!

 

[Alaska Satin]

Hey guys, apologies in advance, I've read and looked at all kinds of color charts recently and I think I'm not color blind but just color dumb.

Is there a rabbit colors and genotype for dummies book or article out there with pictures for people like me who just don't get the differences?

If someone could please help me identify if these are the same color or different colors and what actual color they are I would be extremely thankful, and then if you could point out to me how you came to that conclusion and why it's not other colors that look similar? Feel free to dumb it up, I'm lost!

These are Tamuk composites, buck, doe and 4 week old kit. (And then though I'm dumb on this I think the other 3 are black right? All from the same litter from that doe and buck)

Not dumb at all, and the genetics you're dealing with (steel) can be confusing to even experienced breeders. (On that note, your blacks may not actually be black, since steel shows itself later in the rabbit's coat development, and two copies of the steel gene makes a supersteel, which looks like - here it comes - a self black!)

The first two photos are of a steel rabbit (aka gold-tipped steel, as there is also a silver-tipped steel). A steel is an agouti rabbit with an additional gene that changes the agouti markings on both body and hairshaft. The trick to visually differentiating between agoutis and steels (which are also technically agoutis) is, as @judymac says, looking at the ear lining, but another, bigger and more obvious clue is the belly color, which, like the ear lining color, is present at birth. Not all steels have solid-colored bellies similar in color to their backs, but nearly all of them do, making them look like a self as newborns; but an agouti, like chestnut or chinchilla, always has a cream- or silver-colored belly and lighter markings on the inside of the hind feet.

The second rabbit (third photo) could either be a steel or a chestnut. I lean toward calling it chestnut because of the suggestion of an eye circle and light ear edging, which are agouti markings; however, since a steel is an agouti, some steels rabbits have slight indications of agouti markings. To make a sure call on the third photo, I'd like to see its belly and the hind feet.

Whoops, hear is the kit as well, had two of the buck in the first post.

As for the kits, I agree with @RabbitsOfTheCreek that the one in the middle is a chestnut - you can see the agouti marking on its feet and what looks like eye circles, though the angle is not great. But that "black" in the lower left... that looks like a steel to me. Steels start out solid black, then fairly quickly start showing gold (or silver) tipping. See the tipping starting on its face (circled), and compare it to the adult:



If you want a great primer on rabbit coat color genetics in paper form, Ellen Eddy's ABC - About Bunny Colors is a fantastic resource. You can find it here:
https://www.allthingsbunnies.com/ABC-About-Bunny-Colors-p/bks107.htmor here:
https://rabbitsmarties.com/product/rabbit-color-genetics-book

 

[Alaska Satin]

Chocolate agouti is also called 'cinnamon' in some breeds. They are born chocolate brown, with that same light inner ear, and will develop brown tips,with bands of chocolate, fawn, and a pinky-beige base.

As far as I know, Cinnamon is a name for tortoise, not chocolate agouti, at least in the U.S. Here are rabbits of the Cinnamon breed from the ARBA page Cinnamon:


Chocolate agouti is sometimes known as amber (Rex and Mini Rex). It can be mistaken for a light version of chesnut (aka castor in Rex and Mini Rex) but if you look at the edging on the ear tips, you can see it's chocolate rather than black:

 

[HCB]

Not dumb at all, and the genetics you're dealing with (steel) can be confusing to even experienced breeders. (On that note, your blacks may not actually be black, since steel shows itself later in the rabbit's coat development, and two copies of the steel gene makes a supersteel, which looks like - here it comes - a self black!)

The first two photos are of a steel rabbit (aka gold-tipped steel, as there is also a silver-tipped steel). A steel is an agouti rabbit with an additional gene that changes the agouti markings on both body and hairshaft. The trick to visually differentiating between agoutis and steels (which are also technically agoutis) is, as @judymac says, looking at the ear lining, but another, bigger and more obvious clue is the belly color, which, like the ear lining color, is present at birth. Not all steels have solid-colored bellies similar in color to their backs, but nearly all of them do, making them look like a self as newborns; but an agouti, like chestnut or chinchilla, always has a cream- or silver-colored belly and lighter markings on the inside of the hind feet.

The second rabbit (third photo) could either be a steel or a chestnut. I lean toward calling it chestnut because of the suggestion of an eye circle and light ear edging, which are agouti markings; however, since a steel is an agouti, some steels rabbits have slight indications of agouti markings. To make a sure call on the third photo, I'd like to see its belly and the hind feet.


As for the kits, I agree with @RabbitsOfTheCreek that the one in the middle is a chestnut - you can see the agouti marking on its feet and what looks like eye circles, though the angle is not great. But that "black" in the lower left... that looks like a steel to me. Steels start out solid black, then fairly quickly start showing gold (or silver) tipping. See the tipping starting on its face (circled), and compare it to the adult:
View attachment 36252
View attachment 36253

If you want a great primer on rabbit coat color genetics in paper form, Ellen Eddy's ABC - About Bunny Colors is a fantastic resource. You can find it here:
https://www.allthingsbunnies.com/ABC-About-Bunny-Colors-p/bks107.htmor here:
https://rabbitsmarties.com/product/rabbit-color-genetics-book

Thank you so much for the help and information and the great suggestion for the book!

I really appreciate the time you took on helping me out with the photos, it's been driving me crazy, this community is amazing!

 

[judymac]

As far as I know, Cinnamon is a name for tortoise, not chocolate agouti

It is maddening when so many terms are used that don't match, like 'fawn' being the main non-extension yellow shade in English Angoras, but the same color is 'orange' in other breeds, and their dilute version is called fawn (Angoras use the term 'cream').

The genetics page at Dilute and Dense Rabbit Color Genetics - D Series, or Blue and Black | The Nature Trail has cinnamon & chocolate agouti as synonyms. I think you may be right about this being more common in the UK, as I see many of my resources are British that are using cinnamon for chocolate agouti. I will need to rethink my use of this term, with the Cinnamon breed being torts. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[HCB]

It is maddening when so many terms are used that don't match, like 'fawn' being the main non-extension yellow shade in English Angoras, but the same color is 'orange' in other breeds, and their dilute version is called fawn (Angoras use the term 'cream').

The genetics page at Dilute and Dense Rabbit Color Genetics - D Series, or Blue and Black | The Nature Trail has cinnamon & chocolate agouti as synonyms. I think you may be right about this being more common in the UK, as I see many of my resources are British that are using cinnamon for chocolate agouti. I will need to rethink my use of this term, with the Cinnamon breed being torts. Thanks for the clarification.

Just starting out on this I have to agree with you, I've seen a lot of different breeds using different terms while researching this, it makes my mind confused trying to link it all together . I thought I was reading things wrong or seeing the wrong colors in the charts

 

[eco2pia]

I really want help on the freaking NAMES, lol. I understand the genetics and melanin/eumelanin axis, I just do not get the many names for colors at all--I wish there was a comprehensive chart, with pictures and definitions that would correlate the names with both the genetics and the images. I feel like I have seen this done partially somewhere, does any one know of any such sites?

 

[Alaska Satin]

I really want help on the freaking NAMES, lol. I understand the genetics and melanin/eumelanin axis, I just do not get the many names for colors at all--I wish there was a comprehensive chart, with pictures and definitions that would correlate the names with both the genetics and the images. I feel like I have seen this done partially somewhere, does any one know of any such sites?

For the U.S., and by extension, Canada and anywhere else that uses the ARBA SOP, a chart of most of the color "translations", i.e. what each color is called in various breeds, appears in the back of Ellen Eddy's ABC - About Bunny Colors book, on p.64. (I won't post an image out of respect for her copyright.) The only one I can think of that isn't in that chart is the fawn/cream issue that @judymac mentions in another thread.

However, the book was published in 2009, so there have been some changes, especially with the recent ARBA rule change allowing breed clubs to vote in certain new varieties. So now the chart is partially obsolete: for instance, what was called Californian in Satins has been changed to "Himalayan" (since all point are colors are now allowed, instead of only black).

ABC also has a huge chart with genotypes and their corresponding variety names on pgs. 25-27, which you can compare to the "translation" chart in the back. (Eddy does actually indicate in this chart that cream as a dilute is also called fawn in Netherland Dwarfs, though she doesn't mention that Angoras are in the same situation.) Finally, her pictorial chart on pgs. 28-29 helps pull it all together.

Since the images in ABC aren't the highest quality due to the printing, you can go to some of the excellent online charts for cross-reference. My favorites include
Coat Color Photo Matrix for normal fur and
An Illustrated Guide to Rabbit Coat Color Genetics* [Mink Hollow Rabbitry] for rex fur (since colors can look so very different in those coat types). These charts mostly list colors varieties as they appear in the particular breed standard, so you'll need to go back to Eddy to "translate."

When you get into colors/varieties from other countries' standards, the game's up. In fact in some discussions on this forum and elsewhere, I've discovered that not only do other countries call their varieties something different (e.g. ermine in New Zealand is REW to me), but they can't necessarily even identify what genotype produces the variety (e.g. pale grey Dutch in the UK, where apparently they do not keep an official studbook so it's pretty difficult to discern what the variety has in its background).

But back to US and Canada - an issue that probably will not be resolved is that rabbits are shown by phenotype, not genotype, and that will never really go away since you cannot examine a genotype on the judging table. There are sometimes several genetic codes that will produce a particular variety, and vice versa. For instance, red, orange and fawn (in most breeds) are all produced by <A_B_C_D_ee>; and at the same time, it seems to me that the fawn phenotype can be either low-rufus orange <A_B_C_D_ee>, or dilute high-rufus red <A_B_C_ddee ++++>, the plusses meaning lots of rufus modifiers.

Black is another example. As most people reading this forum probably know by now, a black rabbit can be <aaB_C_D_E_> or <aaB_cchd_D_E_> or <aaB_C_D_Es_> or <A_B_C_D_EsEs> (same goes for the dilute versions of those, which look like solid blues). You can show a rabbit with any one of those genotypes as a black (or blue). Of course it is a courtesy on a pedigree to indicate the status of the rabbit as a self chin, for instance, so the new owner isn't blindsided by surprise varieties when she breeds that self chin to an agouti!

I know that's not really the question you're asking, but it's part of the big picture, which is to justify the genetic varieties with what we call the actual rabbit in front of us. And that's one reason I usually write out the genotype when I'm discussing colors (it's not only because I'm a nerd ): very many times I've learned more about the variety names, especially as used in other countries, when I've written a genotype that does not match up with the variety that the person on the other end of the conversation means.

 

[RabbitDad]

This was one of the best question / answer sessions ever!

 

[RabbitDad]

On the topic of colors... is there any correlation between Easter egg color(s) and what color(s) the bunnies will be when they hatch?
Asking for a friend.

 

[eco2pia]

For instance, red, orange and fawn (in most breeds) are all produced by <A_B_C_D_ee>; and at the same time, it seems to me that the fawn phenotype can be either low-rufus orange <A_B_C_D_ee>, or dilute high-rufus red <A_B_C_ddee ++++>, the plusses meaning lots of rufus modifiers.

Thank you, this is an excellent point that I have been mulling over a lot, and speaks to my underlying question nicely.

Mostly I was looking for phenotype definitions, like "ear lacing should be light on one color and dark on another", the way you might tell apart a black chin and a blue chin...which I think is sometimes called "squirrel"?

I mostly try to stick to talking about the bits I do understand, and call something a dilute instead of trying to decide if it is Opal or Oatmeal, .

But recently I have been trying to look at pedigrees, and I found "cream", which in non-angoras may be "fawn", which genetically may be either low rufus orange, or dilute red as you point out here--timely as I was mystified by what "cream" could even mean. I am tinkering with angoras (aspirationally for now--I have one buck) and looking at their coats which, like rex coats, are wildly different in appearance from normal fur! So trying to extrapolate from pedigrees potential underlying genetics...suddenly I need to know what an "opal" is after all...

 

[Alaska Satin]

Thank you, this is an excellent point that I have been mulling over a lot, and speaks to my underlying question nicely.

Mostly I was looking for phenotype definitions, like "ear lacing should be light on one color and dark on another", the way you might tell apart a black chin and a blue chin...which I think is sometimes called "squirrel"?

I mostly try to stick to talking about the bits I do understand, and call something a dilute instead of trying to decide if it is Opal or Oatmeal, .

But recently I have been trying to look at pedigrees, and I found "cream", which in non-angoras may be "fawn", which genetically may be either low rufus orange, or dilute red as you point out here--timely as I was mystified by what "cream" could even mean. I am tinkering with angoras (aspirationally for now--I have one buck) and looking at their coats which, like rex coats, are wildly different in appearance from normal fur! So trying to extrapolate from pedigrees potential underlying genetics...suddenly I need to know what an "opal" is after all...

Yes, the angoras perplex me fairly regularly because the wool stretches out and kind of dilutes colors, even the non-dilute colors (e.g. black wool looks blue to me). Most of them you can figure out by looking at the face/head and feet, but that's not so helpful in the shaded and non-extension varieties, especially in English Angoras which give you so little regular fur to go on.

@judymac is pursuing a complete understanding of the angora colors and is a great resource since she has been breeding angoras for quite a while. I have only dabbled in French and Satin angoras, which are not as mysterious since they have more regular fur. Also, I knew their genetic background as a result of using my Satins in the breeding project, and because we got the angora stock from another breeder who is very interested in the genetics (she's working on ermine in hopes of getting it recognized by the ARBA).

Anyway, if you don't already have it, I'd strongly recommend picking up a copy of Eddy's ABC. As long as I've been messing with rabbit genetics, I still pull it out frequently. I'd also call the ARBA SOP indispensable, since it gives exactly what the judges are looking for in the varieties.

A really outstanding resource for angora color and genetics, which has fabulous photos of surface color, underside color and wool coloration, discussions of similar varieties and their genetic sources, and comparison photos of similar varieties, is Dolly Rock Farm and Fiber's page:
https://www.angorafiber.com/angora-color-gallery.html
Other resources I have used are these, which although they aren't as thorough and photo-documented as the Dolly Rock, Green Barn Farm or Mink Hollow sites, are still sometimes helpful since they're angora breeder sites:

https://joybileefarm.com/angora-rabbit-101-breeding-for-colour-understanding-angora-bunny-genetics/http://nelleelle.weebly.com/color-genetics.htmlhttps://www.angorahouse.com/angora rabbit genetics.htm

 

[judymac]

But recently I have been trying to look at pedigrees, and I found "cream", which in non-angoras may be "fawn", which genetically may be either low rufus orange, or dilute red as you point out here--timely as I was mystified by what "cream" could even mean.

Another issue is one that @Alaska Satin alluded to, the changing of names, in her example from Californian to Himalayan. Harlequins were originally called Japanese (which is why the code is e(j)--J for Japanese.) When I started with angoras, torts were called Siamese fawn. The very bright fawn agouti (not rufus, but bright shiny gold, with no smut, like an orange from other breeds but with no red tint, just bright gold), were called 'gold'-- that distinguished them from the mostly-fawn but with black ticking rabbits that were called 'fawn agouti'. Chestnut agouti and wild gray agouti were separate in the breed standard (they have since been merged, which makes no sense, as they have radically different coat patterns, even if the genotype is the same.) Wide-band chinchillas were called 'silver' on the pedigrees. We knew nothing about wide-band, just knew the rabbits were paler than chinchilla, and everyone here used the term 'silver' on their pedigrees.

So, we not only have to deal with different breeds using different names for the same pattern, and the same name for different patterns--we also have to deal with where you live geographically, and what time period the pedigree was filled out, as the names may have changed. No wonder we're confused!

 

[reh]

Is there a rabbit colors and genotype for dummies book or article out there with pictures for people like me who just don't get the differences?

Not a book and not really standard color names, but rabbit images searchable by there genetics and with genetic based generic color names:
http://rabbitcolors.info/int/en/index.html
From each colorgroup/category you can choose one.
The categories always resemble one or several genes (normally groups beside the first one are closed to give you a better overview).
You can simply select one group after the next or open the desired categories with one click.
Click on the group title togo to the next group selection.
Click on the image to go to the entries matching the selected genes.

Here you can select entries by color name: Color Names - Rabbitcolors
If you are logged in, you can add color names fo gene codes using the little [+ list] icon on top right of the entries list.

On the parent groups area you can remove single genes from your selected color by clicking the red x below the images representing them.
More help on the help page.

 

[hotzcatz]

As far as I know, Cinnamon is a name for tortoise, not chocolate agouti, at least in the U.S. Here are rabbits of the Cinnamon breed from the ARBA page Cinnamon:
View attachment 36254

Chocolate agouti is sometimes known as amber (Rex and Mini Rex). It can be mistaken for a light version of chesnut (aka castor in Rex and Mini Rex) but if you look at the edging on the ear tips, you can see it's chocolate rather than black:
View attachment 36255

Yup, there is a Cinnamon breed of rabbit, but some breeds call the chocolate agouti color 'cinnamon'. English angoras use the term, although we also use 'chocolate agouti'. The English angoras here are also 'agouti' and not 'castor' although I'm pretty sure it's the same color.