The Dilute Gene
(my personal favorite!)
The "D" series is known as the dilute gene, it's what turns black to blue and chocolate to lilac...it's a simple dominant/recessive gene very much the same as the "B" series.
A rabbit that inherits 2 "d" genes will be blue, lilac, opal, lynx, squirrel, blue or lilac silver marten or otter, smoke pearl, smoke pearl martin, fawns....all of these colors require 2 "d" genes. The rabbit must get 1 "dilute" gene from each parent in order to become a "dilute". A blue rabbit is a "self rabbit", "black", "full-color", "dilute". And will have this genetic code:[a][a]-[B][?]-[C][?]-[d][d]A lilac would be the same except he would be a "chocolate" instead of a "black" he would look like this:[a][a]-[b][b]-[C][?]-[d][d]A "blue" rabbit may also be genetically a "blue seal", here's a picture of a doe of ours who is registered as a blue...I suspect that after I test breed her, i'll find she's genetically a blue seal...look at her muzzle...and you can see it almost looks like a shaded rabbit!
I imagine that after testbreeding i'll find that Boo has the following genetic code...this would be the genetic code for a blue seal:[a][a]-[B][b]-[c(chl)][c(chl)]-[d][d]I "think" that Boo carries the chocolate gene because her mother at one time had a chocolate bunny! I can't be sure until Boo herself has something chocolate.
If the rabbit inherits the tan gene instead of the self gene, this would turn our blue or lilac self rabbit into a blue or lilac otter--here's the code for a blue otter:[a(t)][?]-[B][?]-[C][?]-[d][d]and Mr. Lilac otter would look like this:[a(t)][?]-[b][b]-[C][?]-[d][d]
A lilac otter bunny
The above 2 examples are all rabbits that have inherited the full color "C" gene. If the rabbit inherits the chin gene [c(chd)] as the dominant gene then the rabbit would be the same genetically as the otter except he would have the chin gene instead of the "full color" gene. Here's a blue and lilac silver martens genetic code:[a(t)][?]-[B][?]-[c(chd)][?]-[d][d]
[a(t)][?]-[b][b]-[c(chd)][?]-[d][d]Can you tell the blue silver marten from the lilac silver marten? The top bunny would be a blue silver marten and the bottom code is for the lilac silver marten, the only difference is in the "B" series. A blue silver marten could also be a blue seal marten, they look nearly identical.
A blue himi would be a "self", "black", "himalayan", "dilute" and would be:[a][a]-[B][?]-[c(h)][?]-[d][d]If the rabbit has nice dark points then it MIGHT be safe to replace the question mark in the "C" series with a c(h), if it is frosty and faded, then if MIGHT be [c(h)][c].
A fawn is a "dilute" orange rabbit. And they have the genetic code:
[A][?]-[?][?]-[C][?]-[d][d]If you happen to notice that there are 2 question marks where the "B" series should go that's because a rabbit can be either a "black" or a "chocolate" and still be considered a fawn. You will learn more about that in the non-extension gene [e][e].One way to tell a "dilute" from a "non-dilute" is by the eyes, dilutes will have grey eyes and non-dilutes will have brown eyes. I have on occasion gotten a blue with brown eyes. I'm not sure how this gene works as I haven't done any breeding of these brown eyed blues.
In Summary: