Warm temps make big ears?

[gentle giants]

I was looking over a classified ads section for Mini Rex, and I saw an advert for-surprise!-baby Mini Rex. Anyway, thead goes through and gives a description of each kit, and it said that the two bigger bucks in the litter have bigger ears because of warm temps during gestation/early weeks after kindling? Has anyone else ever heard of this before? Here I always thought it was genetics that made the ears bigger/smaller! Silly me!

 

[aurora369]

I dunno, but all of Wildfire's babies ended up with big ears, and neither parent had exceptionally large ears... They where all raised indoors, so I don't know if the heat had anything to do with it.

--Dawn

 

[Haley]

I dont know about individual litters, but Ive read about how rabbits in different areas of the world adapted to have ear length depending on climate.

 

[pamnock]

The "summer ears syndrome" is often debated.Both genetics as well as environmental factors can affect the ears.

Pam

 

[gentle giants]

Holy cow! You mean this actually has some basis in reality? I thought it sounded totally made-up. I had never heard ofthis before. Mabye it's a good thing I usually have most of my litters in the cool weather, fall/winter/early spring.

 

[pamnock]

He does have some basis in reality as temperature does make a slight difference. However, based onthe fact that ear length in the litter varied so widely, genetics were the primary factor.

Pam

 

[bluebird]

I have read lots of articles about this and both genetics and temperature come into play.as dwarfs are already very compettitive i do not breed when its really hot.its a small difference but at a big show the little things make a difference.my rabbits that have the shortest ears were born in winter.bluebird

 

[Jenni]

Gretchen was born in the winter and she has super long ears.

 

[Starina]

My TinkleBunny is a winter baby and she has some HUGE ears. :brownbunny

~Star~

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

But do you know what his parents ears were like?They may be long but they may be shorter than his parents. And as withevery rule, there are exceptions.

I have heard this comment about ears before, I couldn't tell you how many Holland Breeders tell me they like to breed in the winter for shorter ears. I don't see it making a huge difference but I can see it making somewhat of a difference -- I mean, many animals earshave adapted over time to become smaller or larger depending on climate.

 

[clarzoo]

I have found this to be true in my fuzzy lops.

Babies born in cooler weather tend to have thicker, shorter ears.Babies from the summer have thinner, slightly longer ears, that tend tofold (an undesirable trait in lops).

I don't breed in the summer anymore- and if I plan to, I bring the doe inside.

 

[bluebird]

My point was genetics are the main factor here.you arent going too get dwarf ears on an english lop because it was bred in the winter.but with my observations of over twenty years and raising hundreds of rabbits i get slightly bigger ears in the heat.its a tiny difference.bluebird

 

[gentle giants]

Yeah, I guess I can see what you mean. Thinking about it, I actually did have one summer litter this year, and one of the bucks had an ear that tneded to fold slightly at the tip.Thankfully, he grew out of that. The problem with doing all your breeding in the winter, though, is that the does tend to not want to co-operate. Is there anything I can do to help "convince" them? When I finally get a good rabbit barn built, I plan on putting in light insulation and keeping the temps at least above freezing in the winter, but that could be a year or two yet.

 

[JAK Rabbitry]

The reason is that larger ears help to lose heat. It would make sense if you rabbit acquared slightly larger ears to help keep it cool if there was warm weather about...rabbit being sensitive to heat and all...

Same goes for Elephants. They have these big freakin' ears, right? Rabbits and elephant ears have these uber big blood vessels running through them (take a look at your bunny, you can see them, its ridiculous). Elephants flap their ears to help keep cool....the fannign effect cools the blood in these vessels....and the cool blood ciculates. Like Elephant AC. African elephants have bigger Ears than Indians....Its also hotter in Africa.

Is that amazing or what?

 

[gentle giants]

Yeah, if you have ever seen a pic of (can't remember what they are called) the little wild rabbits that live in Alaska, they have ears like a Netherland, too. They're really cute, too. My little Ned, who is a Netherland, is adorable with his teensy ears and big ol' dark eyes.