Mini Lop Rabbit

The American Rabbit Breeders Association approves of the domestic rabbit breed known as the Mini Lop. It is distinct from the Miniature Lop breed that the British Rabbit Council recognizes (BRC). The Dwarf Lop breed, which is approved by the BRC, is distinct from the Mini Lop (US) and Miniature Lop (UK). The Mini Lop and other small rabbit breeds like the Dwarf rabbit have many similarities.

At a German National Rabbit Show in Essen, Germany, in 1972, Bob Herschbach made the discovery of the Mini Lop breed, then known as a Klein Widder. The German Big Lop and the little Chinchilla were the ancestors of these original Mini Lops. Originally, these two kinds were white and agouti.

German lops were huge and slender with thick ears, weighing around 3.6 kg. In 1972, Herschbach, a proponent of the Mini Lop, produced the first Mini Lop offspring in the country primarily by mating an agouti lop couple with a white female lop. Their very first lops were all one hue. Broken hues were introduced in a second generation. They started to develop a Mini Lop with a high grade of attributes as a consequence of the breeding process.