question about skin color

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@Alaska Satin I looked at a hair from Chamo under magnification and it is banded with a black tip. It's night now and I won't be able to get a good picture until tomorrow afternoon but I will try to get a good shot of it. So is she an agouti steel? Is there such a thing?

Another question: you wrote that the supersteel can have limited patches of ticking; can this appear as scattered white hairs? (see pics of Gita, below, who has scattered white hairs and a tiny white patch at the base of her right ear)

Chamo threw a blue doe (Gris) from a white x blue breeding who I think is or carries steel. Gris threw a very dark blue (Gita) who I think is a supersteel. Here's Gris:Gris.jpegGris eye.jpegGris fur.jpegGris hairs showing black tip.jpeg
and Gita, her daughter:
Gita.jpegGita side of head showing white patch and hairs.jpegGita fur.jpeg
Neither of these girls have a good flyback fur. (and neither has light trim or belly even though it may appear that way. It's just the weird light)

@MsTemeraire Well isn't that intriguing! These blue ticked rabbits have shown up in my lines from time to time, and they are large, robust and hare-like. I kind of like it actually. They seem, like Chamo, strong and healthy. While Chamo's body is large, robust, and hare-like, Happy Girl is more like a pudgy American with a topline tending toward commercial type. Other things to consider about Chamo and Happy Girl are fur quality. While Chamo's fur is fine, difficult to part and keep down for the photo, Happy Girl's is coarser. Neither rabbit has the American characteristic flyback fur, as my blues that I would label "selfs" do.
 
Did this color ever get a name? And I'm assuming that if the genetic make-up was known, you'd have mentioned it, but I have to ask... And do you know what evidence there is for it not being steel (which in my mind is basically a "darkened agouti")? Does it include breeding trials, or something else? Does this Flemish color breed true, or do you see other colors appearing in litters? I have so many questions! 😁 I'd love to hear more.
It doesn't appear to have a name, and is regarded as being unique to the UK Flemish breed. Some genetic exploration must have taken place in the past, to have excluded Steel as being present. During WW2, the breed was a widely used meat rabbit in the UK, often crossed with other breeds to give faster growth/meatier hindquarters, so anecdotal knowledge about how the colour passes on was once widespread. This is what geneticist Roy Robinson wrote about it in Colour Inheritance in Small Livestock (1978):

20241113_174331.jpg
Modern day breeders of this breed report self black individuals can be born in litters, but no other variations.
One more question on a slightly different topic... I have grown used to seeing rabbits from the UK posed with their forequarters lifted off the table. Are UK Flemish posed flat like in the photo above?
Different breeds have different posing requirements. UK Flemish are posed flat. It's mainly breeds from Europe that are posed with the front upright, for example Continental Giants, Sallanders, Viennas.

Giant breeds have a complex history in the UK. The best explanation I've found, which saves me a lot of typing, is here:
https://therabbitgeek.blogspot.com/2014/03/continental-british-german-giant.html
 
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