When I started my Magpie project lines, I knew going in that I would be getting things like Pearl and Ermine in litters. However, several of my original English Angora does also carried for the Chinchilla Light gene. Since the Chinchilla Dark gene can mask Chinchilla Light, this meant that I would also potentially be getting cchl/cchl kits and cchl/c kits, which is not ideal in a Magpie project. I decided to start isolating the cchl and also creating a line for Sable.
Originally, I struggled trying to identify what kits were in the nest. I know the genotypes, but I didn’t know what these varieties looked like in the nest or as they aged. This made determining what was what, a little more difficult. So I started photographing, and documenting kits as they aged so I could better identify future litters.
Note: All articles on this website are written for Angora rabbit genetics, not other breeds. The terms used here may not apply to your breed, but the information can still help you determine genotypes of kits.
So let’s get into how to spot the differences.
Sable
First, let’s talk about what Sable is. Sable or Siamese Sable is a shaded variety. The wool is a medium to dark sepia color over the extremities (head, ears, feet, tail, and back) shading to a lighter shade on the chest, flanks, and belly. The eye color should be brown and should have a dark ruby cast to the eye in certain lighting.
Genetically, a Sable will always be the Chinchilla Light gene (cchl) paired with a lower recessive like Himalayan (ch) or Albino (c) on a non-agouti rabbit (a/a). A cchl/cchl rabbit would be Seal, which is similar to Sable but so dark it looks almost black. Sometimes when you see a rabbit posted in a group and some people are saying its Black and others are saying its Chocolate, that’s Seal or Sable. A Sable can be black based or chocolate based.
Full Genotype: a/a B/- cchl/- D/- E/- OR a/a b/b cchl/- D/- E/-
So what does Sable look like in the nest? It will almost look like a very dark chocolate or an off black. The main difference you will notice is the darker, almost black ears and nose compared to the lighter chocolate shade of the body. Look for the darker ears as a good early identifier.
Smoke Pearl
Smoke Pearl is very similar to Sable, except it is a Smoky Blue color. Extremities and back are a medium smoky blue shade, shading into a lighter shade everywhere else. The eye color should be blue-gray like most dilute varieties, but it should also have the ruby cast to the eyes. Smoke Pearl should not be confused with other Pearl varieties, it is different in phenotype and genotype.
The genotype is a non-agouti (a/a) rabbit with one copy of the Chinchilla Light gene (cchl) and one copy of a lower recessive, just like Sable. Smoke Pearl is also dilute (d/d).
Full Genotype: a/a B/- cchl/- d/d E/- OR a/a b/b cchl/- d/d E/-
In the nest, Smoke Pearl can almost look like a regular blue or a lilac. The biggest indicator will be the darker colored ears, and the color will seem to change from blue to a brownish/lilacish shade and then back to blue. As the kit gets older, it will have darker ears and the body color will almost look like its a steel. If you see a kit that is sort of in-between blue and lilac with dark ears, you’re probably looking at a Smoke Pearl.
Pearl
Pearl is different from Smoke Pearl. Pearl will have light or dark markings on its extremities, shading quickly to a Pearl or very light body color. Pearl markings can be Sable, Black, Blue, Chocolate, or Lilac. Eye color can be brown for Sable, Black, and Chocolate and blue-gray for Blue and Lilac. Since it is the Chinchilla Dark gene, the eye color may be marbled or blue grey due to the cchd gene. Pearl in Angoras is known as Sallander in other breeds.
The genotype for most Pearls involves the Chinchilla Dark (cchd) gene and the e gene, which is why it should not be confused with Smoke Pearl. Pearl is a non-agouti (a/a) rabbit Chinchilla Dark (cchd) with any equal or lower recessive (cchd, cchl, ch, or c), and two copies of the e gene. Alternatively, I believe the Sable Pearl genetics would involve Chinchilla Light gene in a double dose versus the Chinchilla Dark gene, giving the genotype cchl/cchl (but of this I am not certain).
Full Genotype: a/a B/- cchd/- D/- e/e OR a/a b/b cchd/- D/- e/e OR a/a B/- cchd/- d/d e/e OR a/a b/b cchd/- d/d e/e
Pearl is fairly easy to spot in the nest as it will be a pale cream or almost white with dark extremities from the beginning. Unlike Sable, Smoke Pearl, and Sable Point, which will be darker with the darker extremities. There should also be very faint shading up the sides similar to a tort. This may be less visible on Pearls that are dilute or chocolate.
Sable Point & Seal Point
The last to be discussed in this article are Sable Point & Seal Point. Neither are a showable color in Angoras. The phenotype is typically a warm beige body color with dark markings on the extremities (head, feet, ears, tail) and shading along the body like that of a tort. The eye color will be brown or blue-grey depending on if it is dilute or not. The points can be black (seal or sable), chocolate, blue, or lilac. The eyes should also have a ruby cast.
Sable Point is a non-agouti (a/a) rabbit with the Chinchilla Light (cchl) gene and a lower recessive (ch or c) and two copies of the e gene. While Seal Point is the same but with two copies of the cchl gene.
Sable Point Full genotype: a/a B/- cchl/- D/- e/e OR a/a b/b cchl/- D/- e/e OR a/a B/- cchl/- d/d e/e OR a/a b/b cchl/- d/d e/e
Seal Point Full genotype: a/a B/- cchl/cchl D/- e/e OR a/a b/b cchlcchl D/- e/e OR a/a B/- cchl/cchl d/d e/e OR a/a b/b cchl/cchl d/d e/e
These colors can be quite tricky to identify in the nest. Seal Point can almost look like just a regular tort. I first encountered this color in a pairing that I knew could not have produced a full color kit, and had people argue with me that one parent must be full color. By the time the rabbit was mature, it was obvious she was not just a tort. I have surmised that this kit was most likely a cchl/cchl variant of the color, so a cchl/ch or c may look a little lightert. The most obvious identifier for the Seal Point and Sable Point is that it will have tort markings and be light across the back. A Sable Point carrying for c may have a cleaner shading on the sides. The color may appear to be brassy in the dark areas and low rufus in the areas that would be orange/red on a tort. Below are some photos of a Blue Seal Point Angora as it aged.
When In Doubt, Logic It Out
If you have a kit that you are unsure if it is a Sable, Smoke Pearl, Pearl, or Sable Point, the biggest clue will come from your breeding pair and their pedigree. While all of the genes involved that make these varieties can be carried as a hidden recessive, certain clues can help you rule out other options.
For example, when I was unsure what I was looking at with my Blue Seal Point, my confusion came from the gene names. The parents of this kit were a Blue Magpie that I knew she had to be a cchd/cchl (due to her mother being C/cchl) and an Ermine. So I knew both parents could only give c genes (cchd, cchl, and one unknown that could’ve been cchl or something lower) and I knew both parents could only give the e gene, based on just their phenotype and pedigrees. However, the terms Chinchilla Dark and Chinchilla Light confused me. I thought that because a Pearl (Chinchilla Dark + e/e) was light in the body, that it wouldn’t be lighter than a Sable Point (Chinchilla Light + e/e), but this is the case.
When you think about the effects of the Chinchilla Dark and Chinchilla Light gene, this makes sense. Chinchilla Dark reduces pheomelanin (yellow pigment to white) and leaves the eumelanin (black pigment) unaffected. Meanwhile, Chinchilla Light reduces pheomelanin but not to the same extent as Chinchilla Dark, and it also reduces eumelanin. On a black based rabbit, the Chinchilla Dark will be darker than the Chinchilla Light. However, on a yellow based rabbit the Chinchilla Dark will reduce the yellow pigment more than Chinchilla Light will. So if you’re staring at a litter of Pearls, Sable Points, and Seal Ponts one might mistakenly assume the darker kits are the cchd kits when they are actually the cchl kits. Where as a litter of Black Self Chins, Seals, and Sables, would be just the opposite!
So when you are trying to determine which colors are possible, look at your parents’ phenotypes first. Is your black rabbit kind of “muddy” or even looks permanently sun bleached,? Maybe your black rabbit isn’t black. Maybe its Seal, which would explain kits that look suspiciously Sable. I know we are dealing with wool, too, so this can be extra tricky determining your rabbit’s color. If your parents are already Sable, Smoke Pearl, Pearl, or Sable Point, kits of these colors should not be a surprise. If you look through the pedigrees of parents and see Sables, Smoke Pearls, Pearls, Sable Points, Chinchillas, Self Chins, REWs, Himalayans, etc., you can begin to deduce which genes you are likely working with.
As an example of this, I have a buck that is Ermine. I know he is cchd because he has produced Chinchilla kits when paired with rabbits with known lower recessives. I don’t for sure what he carries as his other c gene. By looking at his pedigree, I can determine that his Ermine sire who is from a long line of Chinchillas and Squirrels, most likely gave him the cchd gene. On the opposite side he has a black dam, that is out of a line of full color parents. In the back of the pedigree, there is a rabbit that is labeled a color that doesn’t exist in Angoras. From the guessed color listed, I can deduce this rabbit most likely was cchl and some other lower recessive. I also know from my rabbit’s offspring that he carries cchd and a lower c recessive allele. I have guessed its cchl, but I can not know for sure until I have paired him to a C/c or c/c rabbit and gotten Sables from that pairing.
You can use this kind of logical deduction to reason out what c genes your rabbits carry. You can also always breed to a REW to further narrow down what c genes you are working with.
Conclusion
I hope this helps you identify your kits in the nest and properly label them. I will be updating this article with more photos of these adult animals as they become available (two kits photographed above are staying until they are mature). I will also be updating the links here as I finish up a second article on identifying Chinchilla and Sable Agouti kits in the nest.