Sable Rabbit

This particular rabbit breed is endangered because it is heterozygous (animals with two different versions of a gene, e. g. fur colour gene). When two brown/blue sable rabbits that look alike are mated together, only half of the offspring will be the same colour as their parents. The remaining kittens will be either white or black/dark. This makes breeding sable rabbits much more difficult.

Sable rabbits emerged around the same time in different countries. In Germany, they were developed by crossing different breeds of rabbits such as Havana, Thuringer, Chinchilla and Vienna blue rabbits and were first shown in Hamburg in 1924. Sable rabbits are named after their sepia brown fur that resembles that of a sable.

Sable rabbits are born with bronze-coloured fur, which only changes to the typical sable colour when they get older.