A fellow rabbit blogger Susie of Wooly World Rabbitry left a comment on my previous post regarding rabbits with longer ears in warmer condition. I really appreciate her leaving that note for me. I soon found myself discussing about this issue with SB and she mentioned the term "Natural Selection".
I googled the term and walla! It was a theory about how living creatures survives in different environment. Nature is all about survival of the fittest and therefore to survive is to adapt.
We know that the ears is where a rabbit releases heat. If your rabbit is about to get heatstroke, normally it is advised to place an icepack on its ear to cool it down. I have personally used this method when my local rabbits were kept outdoors many years ago.
So, the theory of local rabbits having long ears whether the lop breed or normal breed does make sense. That is because they need larger surface on the ears to release heat in a faster speed.
The conclusion that I can make up is that, through time, if the first batch of important rabbits were indeed bred, over a period of 10 years it could be possible that an evolution has taken place.
The reason for local lop breed to have longer ears and narrower bodies may well be caused by the climate here in Malaysia. But my next question is, how many generations would it take for the Theory of Natural Selection to manifest?
For example, Skor and BlueBerry can be considered the first generation of imported rabbits. Will their offspring have longer ears right away or I have to see for another few generations down the road?
Can Natural Selection happen so quickly? My observation with locally bred Netherland Dwarfs and of those in neighboring Singapore also has got longer ears. So now, do we call these longer ears Netherland Dwarfs pet quality then when they are meant to be Show Quality? If we ever have shows in Malaysia, must we then change the breed standard to accommodate this evolution?
And we are just talking about ear lengths...
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