Rabbit Breeds

When we are talking of rabbit breeds, we are mainly considering the domestic rabbits that are kept as pets. These rabbit breeds have evolved in course of time as a result of selective breeding done by the breeders as well as through natural selection. Though there are hundreds of rabbit breeds that have originated over the time, organizations like the American Rabbit Breeders' Association have accepted some of these rabbit breeds. These rabbit breeds that are accepted by the American Rabbit Breeders' Association can be seen at different rabbit shows all over the world. Here we are presenting some of the most popular and widely found rabbit breeds from all over the world.

Beveren - This is one of oldest and largest variety of the fur rabbits. This breeding was first dome in Beveren which is a small town in Belgium. Normally the Beveren rabbits weigh from 8 to 12 pounds. Though there are blue, white, black, brown and lilac varieties of this rabbit breed the ARBA have only accepted the black, blue, and white variety. This rabbit is raised for meat as well as fur as this hardy rabbit has a long fur length of about 1.5”.

American Chinchilla - This breed of rabbit was created in the process of breeding large sized Chinchilla rabbit. This breed is also called the Heavyweight Chinchilla Rabbit. These rabbits are normally of larger size and overweight variety of the Standard Chinchilla variety that were originated in France.

Dwarf Hotot - As the name of the breed suggests these rabbits are of small size, compact in shape. The head of the rabbits of this breed is round in shape with a broad skull. The Dwarf Hotot rabbits have round, bold and bright eyes and they have no visible neck. The ARBA have accepted the black and chocolate variety of the Dwarf Hotot breed.

English Spot - This is quite an old breed that has been bred in England since the 1800s. This breed has its origin that is similar to the Checkered Giant and can be traced back to some type of wild rabbits. The most widely found variety of this breed is white in color but the ARBA have also accepted the black, blue, chocolate, gold, gray, lilac, tortoise varieties. The typical feature of this breed is a butterfly mark on the nose and colored eyes.

Jersey Wooly - This is one of the most popular rabbit breed that was first introduced at the ARBA convention in 1984 in Orlando. The rabbits of this breed typically weigh from 2 pounds to 4 pounds. These rabbits have bold head and short but furry ears. They have long fur of about 3” long. Regular grooming and care of long fur is a must for these rabbits.

Apart from these well known rabbit breeds there are so many other breeds of rabbits that are well accepted by the ARBA including Lionhead, Lops, Mini Satin, Netherland Dwarf, New Zealand rabbit, Palomino rabbit, Polish, Rex, Mini Rex, Standard Rex, Rhinelander rabbit, Satin, Siberian rabbit, Silver rabbit, Razny, Silver Fox, Smoke Pearl, Spanish giant, Sussex, Swiss Fox, Tan, Thrianta, Thьringer rabbit, Vienna rabbit and so on.