Types of Angora Rabbits

Angora rabbit breeds include Chinese, Dwarf, French, English, German, Giant, Mini English and Satin Angoras, as well as Jersey Woolies, Fuzzy Lops, Cashmere Lops and Miniature Cashere Lops, if you count all wooly breeds, for a total of 12.The National Angora Rabbit Breeders Club lists the Giant, English, French and Satin as the four recognized breeds.

  1. English Angora Rabbits

    • These rabbits are described by the National Angora Rabbit Breeders Association as "round balls of fluff." They are the only Angora breed to have long facial wool, known as furnishings. Their ears are short and are also fringed. Bucks and does weigh approximately 6 or 6.5 lbs. when fully grown and are the smallest of the four recognized breeds. French and English Angoras were previously lumped together as one breed called Angora Woolers, but the American Rabbit Breeders Association recognized them as two separate breeds in 1944. Later in the century, U.S. breeders selected for increasingly longer furnishings and turned the English from a rabbit that looked similar to the French, with limited facial furnishings, into the "fluff balls" known today.

    French Angora Rabbits

    • French Angoras are bigger and more oval-shaped than the round English. Fully grown French Angoras usually weigh approximately 8.5 lbs. They don't have any furnishings on their heads, face, ears or front feet. However, the tips of the ears and side of the head might have some light tufts. French Angoras most resemble Angoras from before 1880, as seen in pictures with short, smooth head and feet fur.

    Giant Angora Rabbits

    • Giants have three fiber types in their very dense coats. When fully grown, bucks weigh at least 9.5 lbs. and does weigh at least 10 lbs. This breed has forehead tufts and cheek furnishings. Bucks have heavier head trimmings than does and both have lots of tassels on top and some fringes on the sides of their ears. They are the only type of Angora that is only shown as white with red eyes, known as a Ruby-Eyed White. This breed was officially recognized in 1988 and was bred from German Angoras and Flemish Giant and French Lop rabbits.

    Satin Angora Rabbits

    • This breed has the finest hair of the four official types. The rabbits' wool looks shiny, which is known as sheen. The full grown bucks and does weigh approximately 8 lbs. The ears might be plain or slightly tufted. They were originally bred in the early 1980s by Leopoldina Meyer, a Dutch woman living in Ontario, Canada, who raised French Angoras. She bought a young doe with a copper, long, shiny coat and bred it with a French Angora. A few generations later the new breed emerged and was accepted as an official breed in 1987.