rabbit hair

The hair of a rabbit can be divided into three types: "longer, rectrix guard hairs, stiff at the base; the more numerous tectrix barbed hairs forming the magor part of the coat, which share a hair follicle with the third type-the shorter hairs making up the undercoat."{{Cite web|url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/x5082e/X5082E08.htm#Coat%20colour%20and%20hair%20structure|title=Ch08|website=www.fao.org|access-date=2018-06-06}}

Colloquially, these types are called

• guide hairs: external hairs, long and rough
• guard hairs (also called "barbes"): four guard hairs surround each guide hair, sealing the coat
• down: make up 90–95% of rabbit hair;{{Cite journal |last1=Dorożyńska |first1=K. |last2=Maj |first2=D. |date=February 2021 |title=Rabbits – their domestication and molecular genetics of hair coat development and quality |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/age.13024 |journal=Animal Genetics |language=en |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=10–20 |doi=10.1111/age.13024 |pmid=33216407 |issn=0268-9146}} they are very short and barely visible, and serve to insulate the rabbit.

A selectively bred rabbit from the 1900s, the Rex rabbit, has guard hairs of the same length as the down, but this is an atypical recessive trait that is relatively rare in wild rabbits.

Rabbit hair is commonly considered a byproduct of the ordinary process of breeding rabbits for meat, and as such is manufactured in vast quantities in England and France; more than seventy million pelts a year in France alone.{{Cite web|url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/x5082e/X5082E0h.htm|title=Ch17|website=www.fao.org|access-date=2018-06-06}} However, the quality of fur from these rabbits tends to be low, as the rabbits are slaughtered before reaching twelve weeks old and still have the infant coat. The lower quality hair is sometimes used for felt.

In temperate climates, the highest quality furs are obtained in winter from rabbits over five months old, when the thickness of the fur is even; at other times of year, varying degrees of hair shedding causes uneven patches in the fur. The coat is also at its thickest at this time of year. The highest quality pelts are suitable for clothing, and typically constitute less than half of all pelts collected. The hair of the Angora rabbit is plucked or shaved and used as fiber, rather than as pelts.

Rabbit fur products have a tendency to shed more easily than some other furs and might not have the same longevity.{{Cite news|url=http://www.furcommission.com/farming/mink-biology/furtypes/|title=Fur Types in Brief|work=Fur Commission USA|access-date=2018-06-06|language=en-US}}

The use of rabbit pelts in the commercial fur trade took off in the 1920s, when it was incorporated into everything from hats to stoles, coats and baby blankets. By 1924, it accounted for half the US fur trade. While it was considerably cheaper than furs from other animals, it had softness and density and could also be dyed, plucked or shorn to look like other furs – shearing was also known as blocking.{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19390329&id=TfIUAAAAIBAJ&pg=4435,4705955|title=The Spokesman-Review - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com|access-date=2018-06-06}}

File:OtisHavana.jpgs were among the highly prized breeds because their fur could be used in an undyed state]]

White pelts commanded a premium since they could be most easily dyed and in their natural state bore a close resemblance to much pricer ermine (stoat). New Zealand white rabbit (actually bred in the US) was highly prized, but other rabbit varieties in different hues – including Havana, Lilac and Checkered Giant were also valuable because they could be used in their natural colouring.{{cite book|last1=Davis|first1=Susan E.|last2=DeMello|first2=Margo|title=Stories Rabbits Tell: A natural and cultural history of a misunderstood creature|date=2003|publisher=Lantern Books|location=New York, NY|isbn=1590560442|pages=267, 268|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCS5yfJ7NAEC&q=history+of+coney+fur+coats&pg=PA268|access-date=6 October 2014}} One commentator noted in the 1920s: "[W]here one sealskin coat graced Milady of Fifth Avenue in 1900, a hundred thousand coats of rabbit-seal are turned out on Sixth Avenue during the fur season for the Misses of Main Street all over America".

Names developed such as minkony, ermiline and northern seal – all of which were rabbit fur. After 1938, American fur coats had to be labelled using the name of the animal used in its making – for instance 'seal dyed coney' or 'beaver dyed rabbit' – in order to avoid confusion among consumers.

• Australian seal: Australian rabbit shorn and dyed to replicate natural seal fur. See also sealine.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• Baltic black fox or Baltic brown fox or Baltic white fox: Rabbit dyed in a variety of hues to resemble fox fur. White fox was undyed fur from white rabbit or hare. See also Baltic lion/red fox.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• Baltic leopard: Australian rabbit dyed and marked to resemble the distinctive spots of a leopard skin coat.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• Baltic lion or Baltic red fox: Australian rabbit in its natural hue of either (respectively) yellow or reddish tones.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• Baltic tiger: Australian rabbit dyed to resemble the markings of tiger skin.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• Beaver dyed coney or French beaver or beaverette or Belgian beaver: Dyed and with the tips sheared in order to resemble the short dark-brown coat of natural beaver fur. Note that Hudson seal was muskrat{{cite book|last1=Ray|first1=Arthur J.|title=The Canadian Fur Trade in the Industrial Age|date=1990|publisher=University of Toronto Press|location=Toronto, Buffalo, London|isbn=0802067433|page=[https://archive.org/details/carpentrybuildin00john/page/122 122]|url=https://archive.org/details/carpentrybuildin00john|url-access=registration|quote=Mendoza beaver dyed coney.|access-date=7 October 2014}}
• Bluerette: Rabbit dyed blue.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• Castorette: Rabbit dyed to replicate beaver.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• Chinchillette: Rabbit dyed to resemble a chinchilla (not the variety of rabbit), with characteristic graduated markings. Note that chapchillas and French chinchilla were made of dyed hare.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• Cony leopard or cony mole: Sheared and dyed rabbit. Cony often designated rabbits from Europe.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• Electric: Denoted a trade name for a variety of rabbit furs designed to replicate other animals, for instance electric beaver, mole or seal.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• Ermilette or ermilene or imitation ermine: White rabbit fur, sometimes painted with spots to look like ermine. Ermine was a traditional trimming, used on stoles and for robes of state, although rabbit versions of ermine became more widely used.{{Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/01/99/lords_reform/235653.stm|title=BBC News {{!}} Lords reform {{!}} A house of traditions|website=news.bbc.co.uk|access-date=2018-06-06}}{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• French cony: White rabbit that had been shorn.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• French sable: Rabbit dyed to imitate more expensive sable.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• Lapin: Shorn and dyed rabbit – this may be in a variety of colours.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• Mendoza beaver dyed coney or Mendoza beaver: A trade name of the Mendoza Fur Dyeing Works see beaver dyed coney.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CbOI4TCcnbQC&q=Mendoza+++term+for+fur&pg=PA142|title=A Dictionary of Costume and Fashion: Historic and Modern|last=Picken|first=Mary Brooks|date=2013-07-24|publisher=Courier Corporation|isbn=9780486141602|language=en}}
• Meskin: Denoted a trade name for a variety of rabbit furs designed to replicate other animals, for instance meskin seal or ermine. A variety replicating mole was known as Meskin moline.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• Minkony: Rabbit dyed and treated to resemble mink, a fur available in a wide variety of colours from white to near black.{{cite web|title=True Colors|url=http://old.furcommission.com/farming/colors.htm|website=old.furcommission.com|publisher=Fur Commission USA|access-date=8 October 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120530044928/http://old.furcommission.com/farming/colors.htm|archive-date=30 May 2012}}
• Molin or Moline or cony mole: Rabbit designed to resemble mole fur. See also Meskin moline.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• Muskratine: Shorn and dyed rabbit resembling seal.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• Nutriette: Shorn and dyed to resemble a Nutria fur.
• Sealine or Arctic seal or Australian seal or Roman seal or northern seal or seal dyed coney or Baltic seal or bay seal or coast seal or near seal or sealette: Sheared and dyed to replicate the brown, grey or black fur of harp or northern seal.{{cite book|title=Farmers' Bulletin: Issues 1726–1750|date=1936|publisher=US Department of Agriculture Office of Information|location=Washington|page=36|edition=1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df740DbXunYC&q=Minkony+fur&pg=RA2-PA36|access-date=8 October 2014}}
• Squirrelette: Dyed to resemble a squirrel fur – typically the blue/grey Siberian squirrel.

• Angora wool
• List of types of fur

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Category:Animal hair products

Category:History of fashion

cs:Srst angorského králíka