confused about a color - maybe I'm looking at website wrong

[Leaf]

Im just browsing pictures, a friend sent me a lop rabbit breeders website. It has lotsa lops on it...



I see a velveteen listed as a black tort I like. It immediatly caught my eye.



It's the prettiest red color I've ever seen.



How does black tort play into its description?

 

[TinysMom]

I'm probably giong to complicate what could be very simple....but here goes.

There are four basic "self" colors of rabbits...black, blue (the dilute of black), chocolate (brown) and lilac (dilute of chocolate). The tort is talking about the shading part of the rabbit.

For torts, you can have black torts, blue torts, chocolate torts, and lilac torts. Basically, the name is combining the "self" color along with the shading "tort" color.

Many times black torts are also just called "tort".

I hope this helps in some way.

Peg

Edited to add: There is something called a "rufus" modifier which can affect how light/dark the tort coat is and that is why some torts can be lighter colored and others can be darker colored.

 

[clarzoo]

:yeahthateg explained it pretty well. A lot of times, because black tort is the main/first coloring in the tortoiseshell family, people leave off the 'black' and just say tort. So, if someone says tort, you can usualy assume it is black tort- but I've never seen anyone leave off the blue, chocolate or lilac when describing those varieties.

Also wanted to mention- since this rabbit is a velveteen lop- it will have rex fur. This makes colors much more intense. So, the orange and black of the tort colors will appear slightly different than in other breeds.