Bengal Cat
Colors |
about:
bengal cats, brown spotted, snow, silver, seal lynx, seal mink, silver, seal sepia |
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Bengals come in many different colors. The three basic breed-accepted colors are brown, snow,
and silver. Fortunately, the Bengal's color genetics are not too complex, and a breeder who knows with certainty their cats' colors, both dominant and recessive, can predict the possible outcome of an upcoming litter.
UC Davis
has a simple process for genetic color testing, and if a breeder has any doubt regarding color, or wants to be aware of recessive genes, it is best to have a color test done.
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Brown Bengal Cats
While there are no official subcategories of the brown Bengal, the brown coat has the widest variety of shades. Think of the color brown on a spectrum with grey at the coolest end and orange at the hottest end. |
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The
Color
Spectrum
of
Brown
Bengal
Cats |
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A Bengal's
coat can fall
anywhere
within that
spectrum and
as long as it
has a black
tail tip, it's considered a brown
(See the
Dilute
section for
an
explanation
of why the
browns must
have a black
tail tip). Even though
we don't
officially
break down
the browns,
Bengal
breeders have
many terms we
use to
discuss the
different
colors of
brown.
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Stonehenge Roccalou of Beaux Mondes
Photo courtesy of Vicki Beeler
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At the coolest end of the color spectrum is the color charcoal. Charcoals have essentially a grey coat with jet black markings. This distinct contrast makes the charcoals attractive cats.
Ultimately, Bengal breeders would like all of their cats to have black on their face like the charcoal cats. However, we haven't been able to get the black of a charcoal to directly transfer onto a brown at the warmer end on the brown color spectrum. |
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After charcoals, we have cool browns
- cats that aren't exactly charcoal, but still very cool in coloring. I've worked a lot with these shades of cats because I often find their structure to be wilder than the hotter colored cats. While certainly, the skeletal genes and the color genes are not attached, it's interesting to observe how some traits frequently show up together.
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Adding more and more warmth to the coat, we will get cats with tawny or yellowish tones. I really like this coloring on cats. It seems as if this color grouping could be influenced by the snow gene as many, but not all, of the cats with this middle brown shade - not too hot, not too cold
- carry for the snow gene. |
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| What I deem to be the ideal brown is a step above tawny, but definitely not highly rufused orange. This is the color of many ALCs. I love this color because it provides depth on the finished cat. The struggle is obtaining it with black and white on the coat as well. In my perfect world, that would happen overnight, but it doesn't. |
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The brown spectrum ends with highly rufused orange cats.
"Rufused"
means
the
coat
has
reddish/orange
tones.
These hot colored cats are ideal for many people. The struggle for the breeders is to keep the contrast on the hot cats. Often their pattern becomes less defined with age as the colors blend together. As a personal observation, I have found many of the highly rufused cats to be more domestic in their skeletal structure than their cooler littermates. |
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One
would think
you could
take an
orange cat,
breed it to a
charcoal, and
end up with
the perfect
cat - a warm
base coat
with black
spotting.
Let me tell
you, this has
been done
time and time
again, and
the result is
not instant.
Breeding
takes time
and patience.
Starting at
one end of
the spectrum
and gradually
trying to
bring
together
black, white,
and a warm
brown base
coat is a
painfully
slow process. |
Snow Bengals
Snow colors were introduced through domestic cats
Siamese and Burmese.
However, they were accepted as a registered color so that breeders could produce a duplicate of the snow leopard. While many breeders can guess a snow color, the most accurate way to determine color is through genetic color testing.
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The
Color Spectrum of Snow Bengals |
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The Seal Lynx
Bengal color comes from an outcross to Siamese. Lynx kittens are usually born completely white and their pattern emerges with age. While the Lynx can often be thought of as the snow with the least amount of contrast, this is not always the case. The Seal Lynx are the only Bengals with blue eyes. The color on the points of the Bengal (like the Siamese pattern) is considered undesirable in the Bengal Standard. |
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The Seal Mink
coloring
occurs
when
the
kitten
has
one
Seal
Lynx
gene
and
one
Seal
Sepia
gene.
Think
of
the
mink
as
the
pink
petunia
with
with
one
red
gene
and
one
white
gene.
Seal
Minks
are
born
with
a
visible
pattern.
While
their
eyes
are
usually
an
aqua
green,
they
can
be
gold.
Eye
color
should
not
be
used
to
determine
coat
color.
Since
a
Mink
must
have
both
the
Lynx
and
Sepia
gene,
a
brown
cat
cannot
carry
for
the
Mink
gene.
If
you're
told
that
a
brown
carries
for
Mink,
you
are
dealing
with
someone
who
doesn't
have
a
clear
understanding
of
snow
genetics.
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Beaux Mondes Boucheron
Photo
courtesy of Vicki Beeler |
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The Seal Sepia color comes from an outcross to Burmese. Seal Sepia kittens are born with a visible pattern, and their eyes can range from green to gold. While they were originally thought to have the best contrast, all of the snows, if bred well, can result in good contrast.
I
prefer
Seal
Sepias
over
Mink
and
Lynx;
however,
my
preference
isn't
due
to
the
color
itself.
The
Burmese
has
a
smaller,
rounder
ear
which
is
more
desirable
in
the
Bengal
standard; |
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whereas, the
Siamese,
which gave us
the Lynx, has
a larger,
triangular
ear.
Those
structural
influences
still exist
in the breed
even though
we haven't
out crossed
to these cats
for years.
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Silver Bengals
The
most
recently
accepted
color
in
the
Bengal
Breed
is
Silver.
Silver
was
introduced
to
the
breed
by
out crossing
to
the
American
Short
Hair.
Much
controversy
surrounded
the
inclusion
of
silver
as
an
acceptable
color
as
it
does
not
occur
in
any
wild
cat
species.
However,
the
popularity
among
breeders
and
pet
buyers
ultimately
resulted
in
the
inclusion
of
the
silver
color. The
Silver Bengal
has a silver
to almost
white base
coat with
black
markings.
Silvers can
have what
breeders
refer to as
tarnish,
brown tips on
their silver
coat, which is
not desirable
in the color.
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Stonehenge
Icon's Silver
of
Beaux
Mondes
Photo
courtesy of Vicki Beeler |
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Nonstandard Colors
Bengals do come in a few more colors; however, they do not meet the breed standard. There is certainly nothing wrong with these cats; however, they cannot be shown as a standard Bengal.
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Melanism occurs naturally in the wild ? the South American Panther is simply a melantistic form of the Jaguar; therefore, it occurs in the Bengal breed as well. It is recessive, so both parents must carry the gene to get a melanistic kitten. The kittens are still patterned ? hold them up to the light and you can see black on black spots. If bred, all offspring of a Melanistic cat will carry for melanism, but they will only produce melanistic cats when bred to another cat that either is melanistic or carries for melanism. |
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Dilute
Bengals will
have an absence of black.
Each color
gene has a
dilute form. All standard colored Bengals, Browns, Snows and Silvers, should have a black tail tip. If the tail tip is not black, the kitten is a dilute color. Dilute is a recessive gene; therefore, both parents must carry for it in order to get a dilute kitten. If bred, all offspring of a dilute cat will carry for the dilute color, but they will only produce dilute cats when bred to another cat that either is a dilute or carries for a dilute.
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RoughNReady
Olive
of
Kickapoo
Photo
compliments
of
Joyce
Dougherty
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The dilute colors
are
Blue
(above),
which is a dilute of black ? the most commonly occurring dilute in Bengals. Cinnamon
(left) and Chocolate are a dilute of brown.
While
I
have seen Cinnamon Bengals, I have
not seen or heard of Chocolate Bengals. Lilac and Fawn are also dilutions of color genes; however, they are much more involved than a simple recessive. I have not heard of Bengals appearing with these dilutions.
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As I said,
Bengals come
in many
different
colors, and
they're all
wild and
wonderful in
their own
way.
*If you have
a Bengal that
is one of the
Dilute colors
of Chocolate,
Lilac or Fawn
and would
like to
donate a
photo so that
we can better
inform people
of these rare
colors,
please
contact me.
Full credit
will be given
to the owner
under the
photo.
Thank you!
Related
Articles:
Bengal
Cat Type
Bengal
Cat
Patterns |
