Rex and Angora fur question

[GBov]

If the Rex coat consists of undercoat and no guard hairs and is ultra vivid in color, why are Angora all washed out looking?

They are mostly undercoat as well, right?

Have been wondering for awhile now.

 

[Ferra]

What I have been told is that the 'amount' of pigment per hair shaft is largely fixed. The angora gene just makes the wool grow longer before ceasing growth.

So in rex, that set amount of pigment is spread over a half-inch of fur = super bright color
In angora, that set amount of pigment is spread over around 3 to 4 inches = very dilute color

However, in my French, the guard hairs do have a higher amount of pigment, naturally. Leads to some weird effects, especially in my "snowballed" rabbits - they have basically white wool with a layer of colored (usually red) guard hairs. They look extra heathered when in full coat.

 

[SixGun]

Ferra has it absolutely right. The face fur in an angora is the color we use to describe their color. That same pigment color is spread out through the hair shaft in the wool, and typically the guard hair is darker in color than the undercoat because of the construction of that hair like part of the coat. The wool / undercoat is always very light compared to all the other coat.

 

[GBov]

That is so weird though, one would think the follicle would make the hair shaft colored as it grows instead of limiting the pigment to a set amount regardless of how long or short the length is.

 

[SixGun]

It is odd, but its not normal hair like grows on our head, that grows and grows, nor is it fur, that grows to a specific length and then stops until it is shed out. Its a mutation when you get right down to it. Its a hair that would not normally grow, but does, and then it molts out. Further mutations have created English Angora where it doesn't fall out anymore either, or not very much. And that coat has almost no guardhairs. Its unique to these rabbits in what I can discover. Long haired dogs, cat; Wool on sheep, goats, alpaca, also stays the same color throughout. I dont know why rabbits is different but it most definitely is, because you watch the angora lighten in color as it ages. When a chocolate french is born, it looks chocolate. As it grows up the face stays the same color but the wool lightens and lightens. And its not darker close to the skin, the wool is just one color, outside of an agouti.

 

[GBov]

I am so glad I finally asked, it has been bugging me for aaaaages now.

Would crossing in and out, Rex to Angora make a change to the wool into the darker colors?

Rather a few years ago I had one french angora that I managed to get one litter from with a rex buck. The two surviving kits bred together gave me two with angora coats that matted like a felters dream :roll: but they were VERY dark in color. If I had not just packed up the house I would take a picture of some of the mats I saved and, I think I still have one hide? Maybe? But it's packed as well so its no good either.

Now, started with a crap FA I got ultra mating third generation long wool with good color.

How would using good Angora and good rex (looking back, some of my rex were not great either, just ok) and quite a bit of time and work, could you bring the color of one to the quality fiber of the other?

Force a mutation, as it were.

 

[SixGun]

With enough time and effort and a fair amount of luck, there is always the possibility of a desired mutation.
There are definitely advantages to cross breeding. I've been using a F1 French Angora x Satin. That bucks carries sheen and wool. Bred to a Satin Angora I get half of the kits with sheen and half with wool. Those with wool without sheen look just like a French Angora. With sheen they look like Satini Angora. Without wool, they look like a mutt. Theres no breed I can show them under that I can think of, because they lack the sheen to be shown as Satin, and since they're often funky colors, I cant show them as a normal furred breed. Which I think is why "normal" furred rabbit breeds come in THIS color ot THAT color. Either way... Those kits that I do get that are wooled and 1/4 Satin have amazing wool. Now, their angora parents have good wool, even great wool. But so far, it seems that the little bit of Satin fur creates more density to the wool. I'm not seeing more guardhair which is good, but theres enough that even my kits have stayed mostly groom free, which could not be said of their grandfather, who had amazing wool but was a monster to keep groomed.
The other reason for the Satin cross in, and the main one, was to improve commercial body type and size. The Satin Angora is a small rabbit. I'd love to see it a lot bigger, even if it is for my own personal use. One big ol' Satin Angora will produce more wool than two small Satin Angoras and eat less.