Bengal
Cat
Coat Patterns and Colors
Bengals come in two basic patterns - spotted/rosetted and marble.
There are as many variations of spotted/rosetted and marble patterns as there are cats. The most important thing about both patterns is that the markings should be very clear and sharp appearing with strong contrast with the base color of the coat. Spotted/rosetted bengals should have random markings with no stripes or bars. Marble bengals should have a very flowing and random pattern.
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spotted/rosetted |
marble |
Bengal Cat Markings
ROSETTES
There is a great range of shapes of two-toned spot markings called "rosettes".
Rosettes can be described as being of 4 major types - arrow, pawprint, donut, and cloud - in addition to single spots. Some cats have a connected row of donut rosettes running parallel to the cat's spine on each side. This is called "chaining"
A cat may have some of each type of rosette or the markings may be more uniform.
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Arrow rosettes |
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Pawprint rosettes |
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Donut rosettes |
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Donut rosettes with "chaining" |
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Cloud rosettes |
There are four basic "marble" bengal patterns
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Horizontal flowing marble |
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Reduced pattern horizontal flowing marble |
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Chaos pattern marble |
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Closed pattern or "sheet" marble |
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Bullseye pattern - NOT DESIRED |
In addition to the rosetted or marble pattern, there are three other factors that come into play when describing the color and pattern of a bengal. "Glitter", "Patina" and "Ticking."
GLITTER - is the term bengal breeders use to describe a cat that has translucent hair shafts. This translucence results in the cat appearing to be sprinkled with gold glitter in the gold bengals, cream-white glitter in the snow bengals and silvery-white glitter in the silver bengals. It is most apparent on the paws as a translucent satin look or if the cat is in direct sunlight, the coat sparkles. It is hard to capture in photos. "Glitter" is inherited as a recessive gene and was introduced into the breed from one of the founding bengals - Millwood Tory of Dehli.
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| Glittered light gold bengal - notice satin looking paws | Glittered gold bengal - notice some "sparkle" on the sides and legs |
PATINA- Any color & pattern of bengal can have black or dark tipped hairs that lay over the pattern blurring the pattern and giving the impression of having a black "patina" washed over just the shoulders and back of the cat. This is different from "TICKING" that blurs the markings all over the cat.
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Gold-arrow rosettes with black patina |
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Dark gold-arrow rosettes with dark brown patina |
TICKING - is the result of the bands of color on each individual hair shaft being distributed on the hair shaft in such a way that it "BLURS" or causes a lack of sharp contrast between the ground color and the markings. This occurs all over the body of the cat.
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Beige-brown arrow rosettes with ticking |
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Dark beige-arrow rosettes with ticking |
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Sorrel-arrow & pawprint rosettes with ticking |
The Brown or Ebony Bengals
Brown or ebony (spotted, rosetted or marble) bengals are the most common color. This color is accepted for showing in TICA and several other cat associations.
There is tremendous variation in the range of coat colors that are all "brown or ebony" bengals. Some are nearly steel gray with black markings and others are bright beige with rust markings. All shades of brown Bengals will have black tail tips.
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These two bengals demonstrate the
extreme range of "brown or ebony" tabbies. The rust colored - deep
sorrel - marble bengal looking at us, is laying on a grey - tawny -
black spotted bengal. Genetically their basic color gene is the
same -"B". The fact that one is rust colored and the other
grey/black is due to "multigenetic color modifiers" called "rufous
polygenes." The possible variations in tone from greyish to deep
rust are almost endless. The difference in their pattern - one spotted and one marble - is controlled be a separate gene. The following are just some of the possibilities.
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BEIGE BODY COLOR |
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1. beige-tan arrow rosettes |
2. beige-black arrow & donut rosettes |
3. beige-mixed black rosettes |
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4. beige-black arrow rosettes & spots |
5. dark beige-mixed brown rosettes | 6. dark beige-brown mixed rosettes |
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| 7. dark beige-brown donut rosettes | 8. dark beige-rust arrow rosettes-ticking | 9. dark beige-brown arrow rosettes with patina |
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GOLD BODY COLOR |
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1. light gold-black mixed rosttes |
2. light gold-black donut rosettes |
3. light gold-mixed rosettes |
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| 4. light gold-black cloud rosettes | 5. light gold-pawprint rosttes | 6. light gold-mixed donut rosettes |
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| 7. light gold-large donut rosettes | 8. gold-large pawprint rosettes | 9. gold-large pawprint rosettes |
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| 10. gold-mixed arrow rosettes | 11. gold-donut rosettes | 12. gold-mixed arrow rosettes |
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| 13. gold-mixed rosettes | 14. gold-arrow rosettes | 15. gold-mixed arrow & donut rosettes |
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| 16. gold-donut rosettes | 17. gold-arrow rosettes with patina | 18. rusty gold-small cloud rosettes |
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| 19. rusty gold-mixed arrow & donut rosettes | 20. rusty gold-donut rosettes | 21. rusty gold-small cloud rosettes |
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| 22. dark gold-donut rosettes | 23. dark gold-large donut rosettes | 24. dark gold-mixed arrow rosettes |
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| 25. dark gold-arrow rosettes | 26. dark gold-donut rosettes with chaining | 27. dark gold-arrow rosettes |
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| 28. dark gold-sm donut rosettes | 29. dark gold-large donut rosettes | 30. dark gold-arrow rosettes |
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| 31. dark gold-cloud rosettes | 32. dark gold-pawprint rosettes | 33.dark gold-arrow rosettes with patina |
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LIGHT RUST OR
"SORREL" BODY COLOR |
| 1. light sorrel-arrow rosettes | 2. light sorrel-arrow rosettes | 3. sorrel-mixed arrow & donut rosettes |
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| 4. sorrel-mixed pawprint & donut rosettes | 5. sorrel-arrow rosettes | 6. sorrel-pawprint rosettes |
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| 7. sorrel-donut rosettes | 8. sorrel-single spotted | 9. sorrel-spots & arrow rosettes-ticking |
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| 10. dark sorrel-cloud rosettes | 11. dark sorrel-donut rosettes | 12. dark
sorrel-donut rosettes with chaining |
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| 13. dark
sorrel-large donut rosettes with chaining |
14. dark sorrel-arrow rosettes | 15. dark sorrel-donut rosettes |
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TAWNY - GREY BEIGE TO GREY - GROUND COLOR |
| 1. light tawny-pawprint rosettes | 2. light tawny-arrow rosettes-ticking | 3. tawny-arrow rosettes |
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| 4. tawny-large pawprint rosettes | 5. tawny-donut rosettes with chaining | 6. tawny-mixed arrow & pawprint rosettes |
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| 7. tawny-donut rosettes | ||
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CHARCOAL BENGALS ARE VERY DISTINCTIVE WITH THEIR COLD GREY BACKGROUND COLOR, DEEP BLACK MARKINGS WHICH INCLUDE BLACK NOSE BRIDGE WITH VERY LIGHT EYE RINGS, AND ALMOST SOLID BLACK ALONG THE TOP OF THE BACK |
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1 charcoal-arrow rosettes |
2. charcoal-arrow rosettes with ticking |
3. charcoal face pattern |
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4. charcoal arrow rosettes with patina |
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MARBLE BENGALS COME IN ALL THE SAME COLORS AND SHADES AS ROSETTED BENGALS. THE MARBLE PATTERN IS CAUSED BY A RECESSIVE GENE. THESE ARE ALL "BROWN OR EBONY" MARBLES. |
| 1. beige-open pattern marble | 2. tawny-open pattern marble | 3. gold-horizontal
flowing & chaos pattern tri-color marble |
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| 4. gold-horizontal flowing tri color marble | 5. gold-horizontal flowing tri color marble | 6. gold-horizontal flowing tri color marble |
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7. light gold-black reduced pattern or sheet marble |
8. gold-brown reduced pattern or sheet marble |
9. sorrel-reduced pattern or sheet marble |
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| 10. beige-brown
chaos pattern marble with chaining |
11.beige-black chaos pattern
with chaining |
12.light gold-tri colored mixed
flowing & chaos pattern |
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| 13. gold-brown chaos pattern | 14. gold-tri colored chaos pattern |
15. gold-black marble TOO BULLSEYE |
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The "Snows"
The so-called "snow" bengals come in actually 3 slightly genetically different colors: Seal lynx point, seal mink and seal sepia. It is often hard to tell the difference between the seal minks and the seal sepias in person or in photos. There are now genetic tests that can be done to help breeders define which color they have. The easiest to tell is the seal lynx point because they must have blue eyes.
Seal Lynx Point -- which have a very light cream ground color, dark chocolate markings and, usually, slightly darker legs, tails and ears. These cats MUST have blue eyes.
Seal Sepia -- which have a cream/tan background and very dark bitter chocolate markings. These cats have green eyes.
Seal Mink -- which are actually a genetic blend of the above two colors--a cream background with slightly warmer brown markings and, often, blue-green or aqua eyes.
All three "Snow" colors can be shown in TICA and several other associations.
| 1. seal lynx - arrow rosettes | 2. seal lynx - donut rosettes | 3. seal lynx - arrow rosettes |
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| 1. seal mink - arrow rosettes | 2. seal mink- pawprint rosettes | 3. seal mink - mixed donut rosettes |
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| 1. seal sepia - donut rosettes | 2. seal sepia - pawprint rosettes | 3. seal sepia - donut rosettes |
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| 1. seal lynx-marble -flowing pattern | 2. seal lynx-marble-partial bullseye | |
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| 1. seal mink - marble - chaos pattern | ||
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| 1. seal sepia - marble - partial bullseye | 2. seal sepia - marble - chaos pattern | |
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The Silver Bengals
Silver bengals have a nearly white ground color with black markings.
| 1. silver-black arrow rosettes | 2. silver-black donut rosettes |
3. silver-black donut rosettes with chaining |
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| 4. silver black arrow rosettes | 5. silver-black mixed rosettes with patina | 6. silver-slate sm cloud rosettes |
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| 7. silver-slate mixed rosettes | 8. silver-slate donut rosettes with chaining | 9. silver-light slate mixed rosettes |
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| 10. silver-light slate mixed rosettes | 11. silver-slate donut rosettes with tarnish | 12. silver-light slate mixed
rosettes with tarnish |
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| 11.silver-marble-black partial bullseye pattern | 12. silver-marble-slate chaos pattern | 13. silver-black smoke |
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The Solid Blacks
Solid black bengals occasionally occur in litters. Since they can not be shown for championship points, they are not as popular with breeders. However there are several breeders working on developing exquisite appearing black bengals. Just think about how beautiful black leopards are and you can see why many people enjoy owning one.
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black bengal kittens at 9 weeks |
black 16 week old kitten |
The Blue Bengals
Blue bengals rarely occur in litters. They can not be shown for championship points, so, again, most breeders do not breed for this color. Blue bengals have gun metal gray markings on a powder blue body. Many people find they really like the color once they have seen one.
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blue spotted bengal |
blue rosetted |
How patterns develop
I am often asked how a certain kitten's coat color and pattern will look when it matures. I have tried to take some pictures to give an idea of the changes a coat may go through as the kitten grows.
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tawny rosetted
at 3 weeks
at 6 weeks
at 5 months
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Light gold rosetted
at 3 weeks
at 5 weeks
at 8 weeks
at 12 weeks
at 1 year
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