Genetic defect means rabbit struggles to walk on its hind legs so moves does a 'handstand' instead 

They are known for their hoppy nature, but for some bunnies a handstand’s the way to go.

The Sauteur d’Alfort rabbit struggles to move using its back legs and instead lifts them in the air.

An international team of scientists has found the reason – a rare genetic mutation that affects the rabbit’s spinal cord.

Scientists have discovered a genetic mutation that causes rabbits to do handstands in order to get around

Researchers have pinpointed a genetic mutation that means rabbits who struggle to hop instead prefer to walk on their front paws.

A new study by Miguel Carneiro, from the Universidade do Porto, Portugal, and Leif Andersson, from the Uppsala University, Sweden, shows this is because these rabbits have a different genetic code.

They bred these unusual bunnies with a standard jumping breed, and sequenced the genomes of their 52 grandchildren to locate the difference between ones that could jump and ones that couldn’t.

Baby rabbits that could not hop had a single mutation in both copies of a gene called RORB, which affects spinal cord development.

As a result, the animals had a sharp decrease in the number of neurons in the spinal cord that produce RORB protein and likely interferes with the movement of their hind limbs.

The findings show that the RORB gene could be essential to other animals that rely on jumping to move about, like kangaroos and hares.

The paper was published on March 25 on PLOS Genetics.