The head of a typical lop rabbit is said to resemble that of a male sheep in profile, thus the German term for a lop rabbit (Widder, meaning Aries ), the French term (bélier, meaning ram) and the Italian term (ariete, from Latin aries).Ī rabbit's ear, with its blood vessels close to the surface, is an essential thermoregulator, since rabbits cannot sweat. Due to the slightly-raised cartilaginous ear base, the head of many lop rabbits (with the exception of English Lops) has a small bulge, referred to as the crown. Unlike the erect ear of the majority of domestic rabbit breeds, lop breeds have ears loosely drooping, with the opening of the ear facing the skull. The defining feature of the lop rabbit is its ear carriage. Abnormalities in the skull of a half-lop rabbit were studied by Charles Darwin in 1868.
A number of rabbit breeds are characterized by such lop ears. Lop rabbit or lop-eared rabbit refers to any rabbit with ears that droop, as opposed to being carried erect.
