Human selective breeding has given birth to some extremely outrageous and unlucky pets over the years. Alfort’s jumping rabbit is one of the most exotic of them.
The problem is, this rare breed of rabbits doesn’t jump like all of the other rabbit species in existence. When the jumper is ready to move, he throws his hind legs in the air and moves with his front legs.
While this might sound like a funny trait, it unfortunately comes with other issues. Recently, scientists have discovered the cause related to genetic problems.
The researchers bred the Alfort jumping rabbits that did not jump with the New Zealand white jumping rabbits. They had 52 rabbits, 23% of which carried two copies of the same mutation as the original rabbit. These figures are consistent with the statistics expected from when a single recessive gene is associated with a mutation.
This rare breed does not dance like any other rabbit in existence.
The cause of the strange “banana culture” movement in jumping rabbits appears to be a mutation in place of a gene called RORB, which provides instructions to mammalian cells to detect certain proteins.
RORB proteins are often found in the nervous system of rabbits, where they help transform the genetic code into the building blocks of proteins. However, this particular mutation causes a particularly severe drop in the number of spinal nerve cells that can actually make this protein.
In fact, two copies of the RORB mutation did not result in any protein in the spinal cord. This implies not being able to dance as usual. Other rabbits capable of jumping on their hind legs did not lose such proteins. The authors concluded that the RORB gene was the key to the problem.
Over the years, there has been a great deal of scientific interest in physiology and biomechanics specifically enabling mammals such as kangaroos, rabbits, hares, and some species of gerbils, but the problem is not limited. Basic genetics are rarely considered.
One of the few recent studies found that mice with the RORB mutation like the jumping rabbit cannot move as well as they should. Instead, these rodents waddle on their forelegs like a duck, with their tails and hind legs jutting out into the air.
Neuroscientist Stephanie Koch from University College London said: “I spent four years watching these rats plant bananas and now I see a rabbit doing the same. Similar banana tree being moved.”
Koch’s study in rabbits is the first to describe a specific gene needed to jump, and it matches those that have appeared in mutant mice.
The jumping rabbits also had other anatomical flaws in addition to their odd way of moving. Many children are born blind and develop cataracts in their first year of life. Meanwhile, RORB-type mice also exhibited retinal degeneration.
In mice, the RORB gene appears to play an essential role in cell differentiation in both the cortex and the retina. It can also do something similar in the spinal cord, which is involved in regulating sensory and motor information in mammals.
Therefore, a deficiency in this protein could cause a rabbit’s hind legs and rats to lift instead of jumping. In jumping rabbits, for example, the RORB mutation appears to cause abnormalities in the differentiation of nerve cells in the spine, although it actually causes their strange movement.
The effects of the RORB mutation will require more research, but it is clear that it is related in one way or another. It is the only known variation of the entire rabbit genome sequence that influences such a strange movement.
