Paragon Bengals Tri-Color Marble Male Kitten At 12 Weeks of Age
What’s all this swirly business? Aren’t Bengal cats supposed to be spotted? Aren’t they supposed to resemble the (spotted) Asian Leopard Cat? Isn’t that the ancestry from which this captivating breed derives its origin? The answer is “YES, YES, and YES!!!” However, the marbled pattern in the Bengal breed is an accepted pattern in the cat fancy. The first one making its debut in the show rings in 1987 was owned by Jean Mill, who is accredited with not only having the vision for the Bengal breed, but also for getting it established and accepted by the cat fancies. The judges and crowd were “WOWed” by this spectacular cat that looked as if it had caramel drizzled over it! Its marbled pattern had a non-traditional horizontal flow to it, rather than the traditional vertical mackerel tabby pattern. The Bengal breed was developed using domestic tabby cats and crossing them with the wild Asian Leopard cat. The mackerel tabby pattern (most common) is vertical, resembling tiger stripes.
TABBY PATTERNS
The classic tabby pattern is circular, resembling a bull’s eye (American Shorthair). The Asian Leopard cat’s spots are patterned in a horizontal flow.
ASIAN LEOPARD CAT
By mixing these traits together in the development of the Bengal breed, the Marbled Bengal has emerged. The Asian Leopard cat’s dominant horizontal flow combined with the dominant tabby stripe has seemingly caused a genetic mutation of the Bengal cat’s spots, from time to time, causing them to stretch out and elongate horizontally across the cat’s body, giving it a marbled pattern much like those found in the wild. However, all Bengal cats must have spotted tummies.
Bengal cat breeders have begun to selectively breed for the most exotic marbling patterns on their marbled Bengals to perpetuate them into the breed. While there are several wild cats cloaked in these beautiful marbled coats (the Marbled Cat,
MARBLED CAT
Clouded Leopard,
CLOUDED LEOPARDS
some Ocelots,
OCELOT
Margay,
MARGAY
and King Cheetah),
KING CHEETAH
the patterns of the Clouded Leopard and King Cheetah are the rarest and often times the ones the Bengal breeders strive for in their marbled breeding programs.
