Rabbit Breed Profiles: The English Lop

If you're looking for one of the strangest breeds of rabbit, it's time to feast your gaze upon the English Lop. Often referred to as the Hush Puppy of the rabbit world, the English Lop is a large breed with a mandolin-shaped body, a long and narrow head and unbelievably long ears. Considered to be one of the oldest breeds of domestic rabbit, this alien-looking bunny is believed to be the ancestor of many of our other modern-day lop breeds.

The Origins of the English Lop

While the English Lop was primarily developed in England during the 19th century, he is believed to have first made his appearance in Africa and ancient Egypt 3,000 years earlier. This makes sense, as rabbits ears grow in direct relation to the temperature - Netherland Dwarfs, known for their tiny ears, are usually born during cold weather whereas long-eared rabbits like the English Lop are best-suited for extremely hot temperatures like a desert environment. Their blood flows up into the rabbit's ears and is cooled by the air before recirculating back down into their body. Longer ears offers a better chance of cooling, thus lowering the risks of heat-stroke.

Over time, the English Lop rabbit would eventually make his way into Europe, where he became a great success. While he might have originally been bred for his fur and meat, English rabbit fanciers found the lop-eared rabbit to be more of a novelty and classified them as a fancy breed, working to develop them into the rabbit that we recognize today. According to records, the first English Lop was shown in the British Isles, clear back in 1846 and the rest, as they say, is history.

The English Lop Appearance

When compared to many other breeds of lop-eared rabbit, the English Lop has a very distinct appearance. While most other lops are compact by comparisson, the English Lop shares a mandolin-shaped body type that is commonly seen in ancient breeds like the Flemish Giant. Likewise, they also lack the massive round head that is so common amongst other lops, theirs being narrow in comparisson. When shown with their chins on the judging table (the correct pose for the English Lop rabbit breed), the shoulders of the rabbit appear low and are roughly two inches long. From there, the back begins a slow rising curve which reaches its apex at the top of the hips. The hindquarters are full and well-developed, adding to the English Lop's mandolin body type.

English Lop rabbits come in two types: the solid (one base color) and the broken (with the rabbit's color being broken by white). While the tort-black and tort-blue are the oldest and most commonly seen colors of English Lop, the breed actually comes in a wide array of different varieties.

Agouti: The agouti pattern is the shade seen in wild rabbits. The base of the coat is white and then has alternating bands of color and black ticking, which gives it a unique ring-pattern when one blows into the coat. Agouti colors include the chinchilla, the chestnut agouti, the lynx and the opal.

Self: The self colored rabbits are of one uniform color that ideally is carried down to the hair shaft. Self colored rabbits include black, blue, chocolate, lilac, REW (ruby eyed white) and BEW (blue eyed white).

Shaded: The shaded group consists of rabbits with a base color and then contrasting shade carried out to the points (ears, nose, feet, tail). Examples of shaded English Lops include frosted pearl, sable, sable point, seal, smoke pearl and the tortoise or tort variety.

Ticked: The ticked varieties are a mutation from the agouti pattern, where the rings are no longer visible yet the rabbit retains the light ticking of color at the ends of the hair. Ticked varieties include the silver, the silver fox and the steels (steels can either have gold or silver ticking).

Wide band: The final group is the wide band. These are colors similar to the agouti but with less rings and a wider band of color. They include the cream, fawn, orange and red.

But What's Up With Those Ears?

The most notable feature of the English Lop rabbit is his magnificent ears. Measured from tip to tip, the ear-span of an English Lop should measure no less than 21 inches long, with many specimens having ear lengths that exceed 24 inches. And if you want to talk -really- long ears, there's Nipper's Geronimo. Geronimo is owned by the Nipper family of Bakersfield, California, he was entered into the "Guinness Book of World Records" in 2003 with an astounding ear-span of 79 centimeters, or 31.12 inches!

Caring for an English Lop Rabbit

Caring for an English Lop is relatively easy, though there are a few things to keep in mind. First off is that they're large; adult English Lops weigh average about 11 pounds when they're fully grown. Because of this, they need a larger cage. Additionally, they are prone to stepping on their ears when penned up in an enclosure that's too small. For this reason, your English Lop should have a lot of room to move around.

Even with a large pen, the occasional tripping over one's own ears does occur from time to time. Pay close attention to your bunny's ears to ensure he doesn't have any cuts or scratches that could lead to infection. Additionally, be sure to stay on top of ear wax buildup and keeping his toenails clipped, as these can be problems in this breed.

The English Lop as a Pet

The English Lop is a very docile and loving pet when raised properly. Known for their laid-back personality and love of being petted, they remain a popular (albeit somewhat strange) bunny and a favorite breed for many.

Sources:

Personal experience breeding rabbits

American Rabbit Breeders Association, Inc. - http://www.arba.net

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