This snowy white bunny is sometimes referred to as the Hussie and was developed in Holland in the late 1970s. The pure white Hussie boasts pale blue eyes and is small, usually weighing in at around 5.5lb.

Although the Hulstlander is a relatively new breed of rabbit, it quickly became a firm favourite with fanciers and are regulars at shows across the world. They’re known for being playful and inquisitive and can also be very cheeky.

Rather than simply being a descriptive term for the colour of the animal, the ‘Lilac’ Rabbit is a breed in its own right. It’s a small to medium-sized bunny weighing in at between six and eight pounds when it reaches adulthood.

The fur of the Lilac is wonderfully soft to the touch and comes in a number of Lilac shades from purple blue, to light grey. Interestingly, in a well-lit room the Lilac can appear light grey in colour, but when seen in natural light it can appear to take on a beautiful lavender hue.

The Lionhead is one of the newer breeds of domestic rabbit and is thought to have been developed after a genetic mutation resulted in an animal that displayed a luxuriant mane of hair around the head. Breeders thought this mane made the rabbit look like a male lion and the name stuck.

The Lionhead originated in Belgium and although experts seem unsure about the exact breeds that were put together to create it, it is becoming very popular as both a pet and show rabbit around the world.

This is a very new breed of rabbit, having been developed in the UK in the early 2000s and was only accepted by the British Rabbit Club is 2006. The Mini Lion Lop is a very small animal, typically weighing 3-4lbs.

The Mini Lion Lop shares many characteristics with the Mini Lop, but displays the very distinctive Lionhead mane and a hairier area on the chest. Currently the breed is championed by Jane Bramley in the UK, who worked tirelessly to achieve recognition for the Mini Lion Lop.

The Mini Lop is perhaps one of the most, if not the most popular rabbit breed in the world. It features in most rabbit shows in most countries and is kept as a pet by many, many people. It’s small size and floppy ears certainly make it appealing and many fanciers fall for the charms of this cute bunny.

As one of the most popular breeds of domestic rabbit, the Netherland Dwarf, as the name suggests, originated in the Netherlands and are significantly smaller than many other breeds of rabbit. Because of their small size they are usually kept as show animals or as pets and are not popular as a meat-producing breed.

Their slightly babyish appearance makes them incredibly sought after by fanciers and as pets and many of the other dwarf breeds are derived from the Netherland Dwarf.

Rather than originating in New Zealand, the New Zealand Rabbit was actually developed in the US. The American Rabbit Breeders Association currently recognise the New Zealand in four separate colours: white, red, black and broken – where a solid colour is mixed with patches of white. There are currently efforts to try and create a blue New Zealand, but these have not yet reached fruition.

The New Zealand is a large breed of rabbit that can weigh anywhere between nine to 12lbs which is (or certainly used to be!) predominantly used for meat and for fur.

A small breed of rabbit, the Polish was developed not in Poland as the name might suggest, but in the UK in the 19th Century. They were so named because of the ‘polish’ of their glossy fur.

The breed was originally developed for the dinner table and despite its diminutive size; it was considered a great delicacy.

Unlike many rabbit breeds, the origins of the Rex are certain. The breed made its first appearance in France in the early part of the 20th Century – 1919 to be precise. When wild rabbits displaying a luxuriant, dense coat were bred with domestic animals to take advantage of the mutated gene that caused the unusually plush fur, the Rex breed was born.

The recessive gene that’s responsible for the unusual coat causes the hairs to grow outwards rather than lying flat, while the outer guard hairs are the same length as the undercoat, creating a dense coat that’s not unlike that of a Chinchilla.

The Rhinelander was initially developed in Germany and is instantly recognisable thanks to the striking butterfly markings on its face which are usually orange or black. The Rhinelander is predominantly white, with the black or orange markings.

The breed was founded in Germany in the early 20th Century and was exported to other countries in the 1920s. Although the Rhinelander was popular in Germany when it was first developed, interest in the breed waned following the Second World War. Even in the US, where fanciers display an enormous enthusiasm for their breeds, the Rhinelander experienced a decline in popularity and disappeared from view for forty years.

Today the Rhinelander is still rare – particularly in the US, where there are only around 2000 animals. In the UK it is also recognised as a rare breed.

The Sable is the result of crossing many types of Chinchilla Rabbits. Recessive genes in the Chinchilla lines produced an entirely new colour, with a body shape that remained identical to the Chinchilla itself.

The feet, tail, ears, head and back of the Sable are dark, and that darker colouring fades to a lighter tan colour over the rest of the body. The Sable is a medium to large rabbit that has a docile, friendly character and makes a great pet. It gets on very well with other rabbits so it may be worth considering getting two animals if you’re thinking about getting one.

The intriguing Sallander Rabbit made its first appearance on the Continent back in Holland in the 1970s, when it formed part of a litter from the red and sooty Thuringer, which had been put with an agouti Chinchilla Rabbit. The resulting kits had coats that were incredibly striking and looked like they’d been ‘painted’ by a very skilled artist.

Because of its unique coat, the Sallander colouring is finding its way into other breeds such as the lop types and the Lionhead breeds. The Sallander is a medium sized rabbit that usually weighs between six and 10 pounds.

The Siberian is a fur breed that was originally developed to make the matching of skins easier. It’s a small to medium breed that commonly weighs between seven and nine pounds.

The Siberian was first bred in the UK in around 1930 and became very popular very quickly, however as the fur trade shrank, as did interest in the Siberian Rabbit. These days the Siberian is mainly kept as a pet or as a show animal that is popular with fanciers thanks to its grace, fine coat and attractive colourways.

It’s been suggested that the Silver was first developed in the 16th Century and is therefore considered an ancient breed of companion rabbit. Interestingly, before the Pilgrim Fathers made their way to the Americas, it’s said hat the Silver was housed in warrens after being introduced to England by Sir Walter Raleigh following his travels to Portugal. Some sources also state that Silvers were taken to Portugal by sailors returning from Siam.

The breed is recognised in three colourways – black, fawn and brown, and while many countries have a Silver of some kind or another, the original is found only the UK and the US, although it is rare and is one of the few breeds remaining that still have the ‘Renaissance’ conformation.

It’s quite a small rabbit – weighing in at just five or six pounds and is active and very athletic. It displays a very short coat with white and white-tipped hairs distributed through a black, brown or fawn coat. It’s regularly confused with the Silver Fox breed, but the two are quite different.

The Silver Fox is a rabbit that has coarse, mid-length hair that’s sprinkled with white guard hairs giving a silvering effect to the coat. The breed is a domestic animal that’s reared primarily for meat, fur and for the showring.

Silver Foxes were developed by Walter B Garland of Ohio in the 1920s from Checkered Giants and English Silvers and were originally known as the American Heavyweight Silver. The name was changed to the Silver Fox in 1929. They are still found mainly in the United States.

The Smoke Pearl is a rabbit that was originally bred for the fur trade and boasts a soft, thick, luxurious smokey blue or brown coat that’s the envy of many breeders across the globe.

The main reason that the Smoke Pearl is popular with those that breed them is because of their unique personality. This is one laid-back bunny. They adore attention and crave the company of people. They love nothing more than being stroked and cuddled and they are also able to bond quickly with other Smoke Pearls, and many breeders have no difficulty keeping same sex groups together.

Unfortunately Smoke Pearls are a very rare breed and are only found in their country of origin – the UK, Australia and one or two European countries.

The Squirrel is a rare fur breed that was developed in Scotland in the 1930s. Along with the Smoke Pearl these two breeds are the only ones ever to have been founded in Scotland. In Holland, while the Scottish breed was being established, a Dutch version was also being developed.

It’s a silvered Chinchilla type with a blue coat that’s of medium length and silky and its body type is neat and well rounded. The Squirrel Rabbit is currently only bred in the UK.

The Sussex was a very late entrant to ‘The Fancy’ as rabbit showing is known, having been developed in the 1980s. Despite its late arrival the Sussex is becoming increasingly popular as a pet and as a show animal thanks to its docile, affectionate temperament and its beautiful gold or cream coat.

It’s a medium to large rabbit that makes a great indoors pet.

The Swiss Fox is a rare breed that boasts long silky fur all over its body, while its face and ears have short fur. The fact it’s very rounded and ‘cobby’ makes the Swiss Fox look very much like a ball of fluff.

The Swiss Fox is a medium animal which usually weighs in at between 2.5 – 4kg. It was developed in Switzerland in the 1920s from Angoras and Havanas and was the result of an attempt to recreate the fur of the fox, which was very fashionable at the time. The fur of this new breed of rabbit was however, quite different to that of the fur foxes so this new type was not initially popular.

A small breed of fancy rabbit, the Tan is bred and shown across the globe. Although it was originally developed in England, recently the breed has become very popular in America.

The breed comes in four accepted colourways: lilac, black, chocolate and blue. Adult Tans typically weigh between 4-6lbs.

The unusually named Thrianta is a stunning red rabbit that has fawn fur under its tail and paws. It was originally developed in the Netherlands where it was named after the ancient name for the Drenthe region, where it originated. It’s thought it was originally bred for the House of Orange-Nassau.

The breed was developed further in Germany and had found its way to the UK by the 1980s, and by the 1990s it had made an appearance across the Atlantic.

The Thrianta has fur that’s scarlet and orange – rather like an Irish setter. It’s an alert rabbit that’s active and intelligent. They are compact and ‘cobby’ with short, upright ears.

This is a German rabbit breed that was actually first recognised in the Netherlands in the early part of the 20th Century and is still popular in Europe. It’s not seen often in other parts of the world and it isn’t recognised by the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA).

The Thuringer is named after the German town in which it was first developed – Thuringia. It’s thought that the Belgian Giant, Himalayan and Silver were used to create the breed originally and as the result the Thuringer displays a striking coat that’s a deep ochre, with blue-black guard hairs.

The Tri Colour Dutch Rabbit is also known as the Japanese or Harlequin Dutch and was founded in the Netherlands by crossing the Harlequin with the tortoiseshell Dutch. It’s currently recognised in the UK by the British Rabbit Council, but not by the American Rabbit Breeders Association.

The Tri Colour Dutch should have white areas in the same places as the traditional Dutch breeds, but the coloured areas must be a mix of orange with blue, black or chocolate.

The Vienna is an old breed that originated in Austria and has only recently made its presence felt in the UK. The Vienna has soft, silky fur that is accepted in white, agouti and a deep slate blue that lightens to a paler grey on the underside.

The Vienna generally weighs between 8-12lbs.