The Bengal cat breed is renowned for its striking appearance, reminiscent of its wild ancestors. This captivating look is primarily due to the wide array of colors and patterns they can exhibit. This article delves into the recognized and non-recognized colors, as well as the intricate spotted and marbled patterns found in Bengal cats. purebred bengal cat
Recognized Bengal Cat Colors
Bengal cats come in several recognized color variations, each with unique characteristics:
Snow
The “Snow” color refers to a group of three distinct genetic variations: Seal Lynx Point, Seal Mink, and Seal Sepia. When a double dilute gene is present, these can also manifest as Blue Lynx Point, Blue Mink, and Blue Sepia.
- Seal Lynx Point (cs/cs): This is the lightest of the snow Bengals, often born white with faint markings that develop over the first year. They are distinguished by their clear ice-blue eyes and a spotted or marbled pattern in brownish-grey, tan, or buff.
- Seal Mink (cb/cs): Seal Mink Bengals are typically born with a detectable pattern that darkens with age. Their background color ranges from ivory to buff, with an almost caramel-toned spotted or marbled pattern. They possess aqua-green eyes.
- Seal Sepia (cb/cb): These are generally the darkest snow Bengals, born with a distinct seal brown to dark seal brown pattern on a light snow background. Their eye color is golden or green, and their pattern fully develops within 6-12 months.
Brown
Brown Bengals encompass a broad spectrum of background colors, including golden, cream, tawny, honey, taupe, buff, tan, beige, caramel, or red. Their pattern is typically black or deep brown spots or marbling, and their eye color is green or golden.
Silver (I/i or I/I)
Silver Bengals have a background of white, silvery, or silver with an inky black spotted or marbled pattern. The “inhibitor gene” (i) is responsible for this color, removing melanin from the coat. In some cases, a “tarnish” (a brown, gold, or pink tone) may appear on the face and feet if the inhibitor gene doesn’t fully mask the melanin. Silvers free of tarnish are highly prized. As a dominant gene, only one parent needs to be silver for kittens to be silver. This allows for silver variations in snow, blue, and brown Bengals. Their eye color depends on the base coat color they are inhibiting.
Blue (d/d)
Recognized in Australia, the Blue Bengal features a buttery-peachy toned background with a bluish-gray spotted or marbled pattern. The markings in Blue Bengals never turn black. They can also be silver if they carry the inhibitor gene.
Non-Recognized Colors
Beyond the recognized colors, Bengal cats can exhibit rarer variations due to recessive genes:
Melanistic/Solid (a/a)
Melanistic Bengals have a solid color background with faint spotted or marbled patterns, sometimes only visible in direct sunlight. This solid color can occur across all recognized color groups, including snow, blue, silver, and brown.
Cinnamon (red) (b1/b1) / Chocolate (b/b or b/b1)
- Cinnamon (Red/Sorrel): These Bengals have an orange-cream color with a darker orange pattern and tail tip. True Cinnamon Bengals lack any black markings, including the tail tip. Their genetic type is b1/b1.
- Chocolate: Chocolate Bengals have a chocolate base coat with a dark chocolate pattern and tail tip (not black). The chocolate allele (b) is dominant over cinnamon (b1), meaning chocolates can be b/b or b/b1 (carrying cinnamon).
Bengal Charcoal Pattern
The Charcoal pattern is now a recognized pattern in Australia and can overlay any of the recognized colors. Charcoal cats are significantly darker than their standard counterparts due to this pattern. Achieving a charcoal pattern requires a specific combination of agouti genes (Apb/a), where Apb originates from the Asian Leopard Cat (ALC). The Apb gene signifies the presence of wild cat color genes.
Charcoal (APb/a)
This is a masking gene, creating a darker, layered appearance over the base coat. Charcoal Bengals have very dark patterning, sometimes reducing the high contrast desired in the breed standard. They often display dark facial masks and a thick, cape-like stripe along their back.
Bengal Spotted Patterns
Bengal cats are shown under two primary pattern classifications: Spotted or Marble. Within the spotted category, various descriptive terms denote the type of spotting:
- Single-Spotting: Spots have only one color, distinct from the background.
- Cluster Rosettes: Small spots form clusters around a second, inner color.
- Paw-Print Rosettes: The rosette is open on one side, with spots edging the inner color, resembling paw prints.
- Embryonic Rosettes: The spot shows subtle signs of a second color on its edges.
- Doughnut Rosettes: The rosette is outlined by a darker color, with a distinctly different center.
- Arrowhead Rosettes: Spots or rosettes are triangular, with the “tip” pointing towards the cat’s rear.
Bengal Marbled Patterns
Marble patterns also have descriptive terms:
- Tri-Colour and Quad-Colour: Refers to patterns with three or four distinct colors in the background and markings.
- Horizontal Flowing: The marble pattern flows horizontally along the body, resembling boa constrictor markings. This is highly desired.
- High Acreage or Reduced Pattern: A pattern with a significant amount of background color showing between the marble markings, mimicking wild cats like the Margay or Marbled Cat.
- Chaos Pattern: A dramatic pattern of swirls and splashes in various sizes and shapes, flowing horizontally.
- Sheeted or Closed Pattern: A high ratio of pattern to background color, which can take up to two years to fully open up and reveal the underlying pattern.
- Bull’s-eye (Undesired): A circular pattern with a round center, similar to the classic tabby pattern, which is not desired in the Bengal breed.
