The Angora Rabbit
byBetty Chu
There are four breeds of Angora rabbits: English Angora, French Angora, Giant Angora and Satin Angora. English and French were the original breeds, Satin and Giant were introduced in the late 1980s.
The English Angora has a cute face with heavy wool furnishings on the
ears, face and feet. The wool texture is silky with a small percentage
of guard hair, thus it requires more grooming. The smallest breed of
the four, English Angora weighs 5-7-1/2 lbs at maturity. The English
Angora is characterized being round and soft.
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The French Angora has a sleek face and ears and resembles a “regular”
rabbit. The wool has a higher percentage of guard hair to underwool,
thus it requires less grooming. The
body is medium length with an oval shape. Its mature weight is 8-10 lbs.
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The Giant Angora is only recognized in white; colored ones are
considered cross-breeds. The Giant does not molt and thus must be
sheared. The largest of the four breeds, its mature weight is
approximately 9-12 lbs.
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The Satin Angora is characterized by the sheen of the coat; the look
resembles a smaller version of the French. The Satin comes in rich
natural colors but produces the shortest and the least wool of the four
breeds. The coat is quite soft and thus requires frequent grooming.
Ideal weight of a matured Satin is 8 lbs.
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In English, French, and Satin, there are two varieties; the white variety and the colored variety. Of the colored variety there are many different colors including but not limited to fawn, cream, tortoiseshell, black, blue, chocolate, lilac, sable, pearl, chinchilla. The only color recognized as a pure breed of Giant Angora is white. Work is in progress to introduce black color into the Giant.
According to the breed registration statistics compiled by the American Rabbit Breeders Association, English is the most popular breed of the four, followed by French, Satin and Giant.