| History of the Bengal |
| Bengal cats are the result of the cross breeding of an Asian Leopard Cat, ALC and a domestic cat. Jean Mill started the breed back in 1963. They are strong, intelligent cats who form strong bonds with their owners. They eat regular cat food and use the litter box, just like any other domestic breed. Bengals are medium in size, muscular and weigh between 8 to 16lbs at maturity. The first three generations from the wild ALC are called domestic/leopard cat crosses and are included among "Foundation Bengals". The fourth generation and beyond are called Bengals or sometimes "SBT" Bengals. In the first generations of the hybrid the F1 cat has an ALC parent (usually sire) and a domestic parent, the F2 has an F1 mother and a domestic sire, and the F3 has an F2 mother and a domestic sire. Males are usually infertile while the females of these generations are used as foudnation stock of the domestic. Some of the colors (brown and snows) and patterns (spotted and marbled) of the Bengal are: Brown Spotted Tabby, which have dark spots on a lighter ground color, ranging from gray or tawny thru sorrel to golden and very rufus (bright orange) and on to a rich mahagony. Snows: can be Seal-lynx point (blue eyes), Seal Sepia (gold or green eyed) and Seal Mink (aqua or green eyes) and these also have the same spotted or marbled patterns. The classic tabby gene creates the marble bengal and represents a change of pattern from spotted to swirled or marbleized. Both of these patterns (spotted and marble) occur in both the brown and snow colors. |