Coat genetics question??

[LilyPatchFarm]

Hi all-

I am new! Please forgive my ignorance I have a hypothetical question that I have been googling but can't seem to find an answer to.

I am in love with two coat types- the wonderfully curly short rex type, and the beautifully soft and long wooly type. Obviously these are the extreme opposites on the rabbit coat types and I got to thinking: is it possible to combine them?

It seems that what I am reading the rex pattern is exhibated as rr and the wooly is ll, which seems to me that they may be carried on different loci, which would make it possible to produce an rrll after several generations of selective line breeding. But I can not seem to find much information to verify this.

In my mind, combining the two would result in a curly wool almost reminiscint of a sheeps wool. Very soft and curly with curly whiskers. Imagine a sheep with a rabbits head

Does anyone know if this is possible? Or has been done before? Again, I am new to rabbits but I have some basic knowledge of genetics from dogs/chickens/reptiles/rats so I was curious to know about bunnies as well.

 

[DharmaBuns]

I could have sworn I heard about a breed that had the longer soft/curly coat. Astrex or something? This is going from memory/not knowing much about that particular cross. You might try looking at that breed!

 

[pamnock]

Here's more info http://www.dumansark.com/?id=26

 

[DUSTBUNNY-CLYDE]

they're really cool!!!

 

[LilyPatchFarm]

Ok. I think that someday I am going to start working towards Astrex fur, since apparently its a fur type and not a breed.... and looks like it has basis in rex coat.

Now.... I did find THIS picture which is EXACTLY what I had in my head. This is a rough coated opossum rex. This is the info I found:

"If you can imagine it, the Opossum Rex rabbit looks just like a wooly lamb, only with long ears. They have coats of rexed angora. The rexing of the angora hair shaft results in very wavy wool that is around 1 1/2 inches long. The head is not wooled, and is darker in color as is usual for angoras. The BRC recognizes the Opossum Rex, where they should weigh 6-8 pounds (2.72-3.63 kg). The breed is not known in the USA, and is extremely rare if not extinct in Europe and the UK."

THAT. THAT is what I want!!!!

 

[DharmaBuns]

Are you thinking of something that resembles more like a Texel guinea pig?

 

[woahlookitsme]

lol i didnt even think about that.
I wonder how they got a texel. Here is a picture if you arent familiar with them