blue-grey rabbit

[pikeypaul 11]

hi, guys been out today got 16, but one was a light blue grey colour anyone else ever had one. could it be the offsping from an escaped pet??????

[Jamie m 668]

We had one last week pest control so couldn't let it go I think it's to do with the black over grey could be wrong tho

[Malt 379]

They naturally occur in all sorts of colours. Most of the ones where I live now are this sort of colour:

 

 

..while the ones about the place I used to live were more this colour:

 

[Jamie m 668]

http://emob946.photobucket.com/albums/ad306/jamiem1/photo-15.jpg?t=1287856738

 

doesn't look very blue after being in the freezer a week and bad light down the bottum of the garden

[mc145 15]

Theres a place I go near some allotments, packed with blues, blacks and gingers, apparentley some escaped from the allotments some years back and must have bred

[Ideation 8,216]

Agouti is a mixture of many colours and so genetic color variants are expressed including completely white, black, grey, blue, orange, brown etc etc, hence the many colored rabbits you see, as well as escapees interbreeding. I once had a half white half normal.

[inan 841]

http://emob946.photobucket.com/albums/ad306/jamiem1/photo-15.jpg?t=1287856738

 

doesn't look very blue after being in the freezer a week and bad light down the bottum of the garden

My dogs have picked up a few of these ,with blue eyes too,allways in the same area.

Had a real ginger one last season.

[theferreter 311]

the mates dog caught this on lamp few seasons ago

[theferreter 311]

[Brimmer 220]

The 'Blueys'

 

 

Occur naturally, as do what we call 'Dutchys'

 

 

And also the 'Blackies'.

 

These are all wild rabbits, and not crossbreds from escaped pets.

 

The variations seem to occur in equal proportions of each of the above, probably at a rough guess, one in every hundred rabbits we get seems to be one of these, its just down to the genetic make up of the animal, maybee the genes were spread from tame rabbits many generations ago, who knows mabee decades or century's ago?

(Have heard tales of the old warreners who would introduce blood to improve the wild rabbit, and make it easier to spot, 'Blackies'?.

 

If it was escaped pets you would see a wave of the variation types slowly make its way out to the breeding stock over a few years over a great distance, but some of the warrens we do are isolated, and a long way out of the way from civilisation, with many warrens inbetween showing no variation in the population.

[TOMO 26,070]

HERS a couple of light fawn/ sandy ones out the same warren

 

 

[micky 3,325]

HERS a couple of light fawn/ sandy ones out the same warren

 

 

i killed one with a bit of colour on friday

[turbo28 1]

Got a 1 black one out of twenty up in the peninnes on a friends permission,looked like it come out of a pet shop mate

[caterpiller 10]

Had a few of them Blues/Blacks/Dutchies (White Collar/Band) but only on Moorland or Fields next to Moorland.......

I could be wrong but could it have something to do with inbreeding????????