What Color Are Rabbits? 7 Interesting Varieties of Rabbits

What color are rabbits? Well, rabbits can vary in color. Some rabbits have spots and patches of different colors, while others are quite simple but cute, a white rabbit, for example.

Without a doubt, rabbits are one of the cutest animals you can ever have.

No wonder why a lot of people raise a rabbit. Aside from that fact, what’s more attractive about rabbits is their unique variations in color.

Everyone may have their own choice when it comes to rabbits. It is time for us to dig deeper about rabbits and their colors – together with several facts about the genetic science behind their unique coat colors.

Variety Of Rabbit Colors

As you know, rabbits are different in their way, especially regarding their color.

And I bet that you might have already seen wild rabbits once, the one with a specked, grayish-brown colored coat.

This color variation is called agouti; it sets the idea of developing several unique color variations.

For over decades, a lot more color variations have been come up, thanks to rabbit breeders.

Not only that, but they also bred rabbits with various hair lengths and patterns.
From a mixture of white and black up to bluish-colored rabbits, from very soft Rex rabbits to a unique Lionhead, they never fail to make us excited every time we see them.

What color are rabbits?

Given these facts, let’s have a short discussion about a rabbit’s color so that you will have an idea of what color’s rabbit to buy next time.

These are some of the most common ones to help you familiarize with different rabbit colors.

Be sure to read it carefully to avoid confusion if ever you’ll encounter these kinds of rabbits.

#1. Chinchilla

This type of color is a little bit lighter near the basal part of a rabbit’s hair and much darker at the tips.

With this, your pet looks textured. As your bunny’s hair passes over bulges, you can see it creates an attractive effect.

#2. Broken

Rabbits having this color have patches of color all over their body.

#3. Tortoise

You can easily identify this type of color in rabbits if they have a touch of orange or grayish brown and black in their coat.

#4. Points

When we say points, it particularly means the rabbit’s extremities, including the tip of their ears, feet, and nose.

If you encounter this type of rabbits, they have a darker tip than their fur in other parts of their body.

Try to visualize them as a Siamese cat. They are kind of similar when it comes to color.

#5. Himalayan

This refers to rabbits with color at the points only. The rest of the rabbits are white. This color is the easiest to identify.

In simple terms, rabbits with a white color all over their body except for their points can be referred to as Himalayan type.

#6. REW (Red Eyed White)

Rabbits like these are often called Albino. You can learn more about the reasons for rabbits being albino in the article why do rabbits have red eyes

They proved to everyone that simplicity is beauty through their all-over-white color.

They neither have a brown or black pigment. All they have is reddish or pink eye.

#7. BEW (Blue Eyed White)

Like those rabbits mentioned above, their bodies are all covered in white fur.

The only difference between them is the fact that these rabbits have blue eyes.

These days rabbit breeders talk about ring color. It refers to the colors you can find when you divide the fur.

The ring color is identified based on the number of color bands that can be seen down the tip of their hair and patterns involved in these color bands.

Genetics And Color Range

For you to fully digest every single piece of information about the large variety of a rabbit’s color, we should talk about genetics.

Let’s just have some background on it.

A genotype refers to multiple genes that an organism carries. A genotype is the one that influences the identity of your rabbit.

And when we talk about the overall visual aspect of a rabbit, we call it the phenotype.

Now, we will also talk about alleles.  Alleles are parts of a gene. One or multiple genes may be influencing a trait.  As you know, a rabbit’s color depends on how its alleles are combined.

If you are a breeder of an animal, especially rabbits, you should always think about genetics. 

Though a specific physical appearance is beautiful, always mind that it can harm its offspring whenever you are breeding a rabbit or any animal.

Rabbit Color Genetics

Basically, there are a total of five when it comes to the groups of alleles or genes. They are the ones who have control over the color and markings of your rabbit.

The following combinations of this group will be the outcome of what your rabbit will appear.

#1. Pattern

This specification refers to the color that will appear on your rabbit’s strand. The shaft’s color can have at least five bands.

Its allele will be the one that will determine if your rabbit can have five bands of color in total.

Whether the color will all be the same until its shaft’s hair up to its skin or there would be a combination of colors.

#2. Color

In this group, there are a total of two alleles. It will determine the intensity of the rabbit’s coat.

Black and brown are the possible outcome. The more intense color will be black, and the lesser one is brown.

#3. Shading

This group can be confusing since this refers to how the color will look.

The following alleles for this group are responsible for regulating the quantity of pigment in a rabbit’s hair.

Pigments can either be black or yellow. However, sometimes it can be both and can be found at the tip of their color.

#4. Dilution

This group is focused on the intensity of the color. It will look blue if black is diluted, and it would be lilac if brown is diluted.

And take note that the dilution process can affect your rabbit’s skin and eyes.

What colors do rabbits see? Are they color blind?

Let’s talk about a rabbit’s vision when it comes to lighting and color.

Rabbits have cones and rods that help them see. Cones are the ones responsible for receiving various wavelengths of color.

A human eye has three cone categories, it can receive variations of lengths ranging from red, green to blue.

However, rabbits can only be sensible to two colors, which are green and blue.

Thus, it means they are partly color blind.

On the contrary, rabbits can see well if they are very active and at dawn and dusk. Though they can’t have an evident vision at night. You can read more about night vision in rabbits in the article can rabbit see in the dark

Conclusion

Rabbits are very pleasing to the eyes. Not just because they are simply cute, but they are also colorful in some ways. Rabbits are species with a lot of varieties when it comes to their color. They have different patterns and markings that depends on their alleles or genetic mutation.

They are partially color blind since they can only see blue and green, unlike humans. But you don’t have to worry since they can see a lot better if they are active and at dawn and dusk. We hope you have gained useful information from the article “what color are rabbits?” and this will help you choose the best-colored rabbit in the future.