Question about lops and harle color pattern...

[Dove]

Hello everyone. I have a couple of questions.

First, are lop ears dominant or recessive? If they are neither, can you explain it to me?

Second, I've been told that that tri-color and harlequin are technically the same pattern, except one comes in broken and the other is solid. Is this true? If it is true, why is it that tri-colors(brokens) are spotted or speckled, but harlequins(solid) are checkered or striped patterned.

Thanks for your help.
Dachshund genetics seems so much easier. Haha.

 

[Dood]

Welcome to the forum.

First, are lop ears dominant or recessive? If they are neither, can you explain it to me?

unfortunately lop ears are not a simple dominant or recessive trait. There are many genes involved and it really depends on the rabbits. But it does seem to be recessive as a lop crossed with a regular eared rabbit almost always has upright ears. However you can also have two Lops have kits with upright ears if they just are not a good match.

tri-color and harlequin are technically the same pattern, except one comes in broken and the other is solid. Is this true?

yes it is

why is it that tri-colors(brokens) are spotted or speckled, but harlequins(solid) are checkered or striped patterned.

because of the way the broken gene distributes colour on the coat.

 

[skysthelimit]

Dachshund genetics seems so much easier. Haha.

Rabbit genetics is much more complicated than dog genetics, I quickly discovered that, lol. Coming from a dog breed that only recognizes 5 colors, with 3 only distinguished by rufus and pattern, then to rabbit breeds that have 15-32 colors/patterns, I found myself doing some extra studying. :shock: At least the genetic symbols are the same.

 

[Dove]

Thanks you for the help. That does help answer some questions.