Types of Bengals

Bengals can be classified by two main aspects: the coat color and the coat design. The combination of the two give the variety of bengals we can see today.

The coat designs that we can observe on a bengal cat are:

a) Spotted. Dark spots over light coat to give that beautiful contrast. These spots can be dots or rosettes. This way, we can see brown spotteds, snow spotteds or blue spotteds.

b) Marble. This design is like dark and light swirls all along the coat. These swirls combine brown, dark chocolate, black and cream (depending on the color coat), create one of the most interesting coating effects. This way, we can find brown marbles, snow marbles, and blue marbles.

The coat colors a bengal cat can show are:

1) Brown. The coat is a light brown or cream, and even in some occasions orange. It can have spots, rosettes or swirls (marble effect). These marks must be darker than the coat: combination of dark brown, black, light brown and cream.

2) Snow. There are three main types of snows: Seal Lynx Point, Mink and Sepia. The coat can show spots, rosettes or swirls (marble effect). These markings must be darker than the coat: grey, dark brown, chocolate.

3) Blue. The coat is color cream with spots, rosettes or swirls color blue.

4) Silver. The coat must be totally white to highlight the dark markings which can be spots, rosettes or swirls. They were recognized during the year 2004, some of which were Champions. They must not show any golden tones on their feet, face, tummy and spine.

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This way, when we talk about bengals we can be referring to one of the following types:

1. LEOPARD SPOTTED BENGAL
2. SNOW LEOPARD SPOTTED BENGAL
3. MARBLE BENGAL
4. SILVER SPOTTED BENGAL




1. LEOPARD SPOTTED BENGAL

The leopard spotted has dark markings (if black better) over a coat that can be grey, creamy, golden or rufus, which is highly appreciated, but the one that offers the most contrast now is the golden pale gold background.

The ideal shape of these markings can be triangular or rounded, and the bigger the better. Some have what we call Rosettes, which are those typical circles with a dark outline and with chestnut colour in the center. The rosettes can be seen in the leopard and the jaguar. There are various types of rosettes.

The pictures above show the look of these Rosettes. Image (A) shows a cream-goldy coloured coat with fantastic "paw-print rosettes" (Indiana Jones of Ramazan, Short Hair World Champion), and Image (B) shows a more rufus coloured coat with two tone triangular rosettes (James Bond of Ramazan).

Nowadays, the rosettes are developing into small doughnut shape round circles with wide acreage. Bengals that show this new type of superb marking have a very high value.

The spotted markings are found in the Leopard Spotted and the Snow Leopard. In the first case, the markings must be dark brown, black or dark chocolate. In the second case, the markings must be of a lighter brown. But always, as bigger the spots or rosettes the better, and of course price will notably be affected by this issue.
These pictures show the more rosette markings, feature that defines the quality of a bengal cat. The rosettes are highly appreciated and esteemed by the jury in the Feline Expositions. The first one (“D”) belongs to one of our kittens; the second (“E”) to James Bond of Ramazan (Winner of various Best in Shows); the third (“F”), to Zebedee of Ramazan, being the last two Ramazan Studs.

These other pictures show the traditional spotted markings. The first one (“G”) belongs to a snow leopard kitten we had; and the second (“H”) to the patriarch of our Bengal Cattery Ramazan. He is Gogees Nitro Glistening (we call him “Toby”), very famous in USA during the beginning of the recognition of the bengal breed by the TICA (The International Cat Association). [up]

2. SNOW LEOPARD BENGAL

The snow leopard has a white-pearled or cream coat with chocolate or brown markings. Their eyes are blue. Nowadays, we can also find snows with green eyes, with even more dark markings to offer more contrast. They are called “Green-eyed Sepia Snow”. The snow leopard can be spotted and marble. [up]

3. MARBLE BENGAL

The marking of the marble has been introduced by the “Classic Tabby Gene”, one of the domestic cats used for the beginning of the bengal breed creation.

These marks form some kind of interesting swirls all along the coat, being very exotic. Picture (“C”) shows the marble markings of our adorable Jazzplayer of Ramazan, one of our studs. Imported from Barry and Rosie Alger-street (UK).


His colors are black, brown, gold and rufus and cream. The marble is important in the breeding program to enhance the quality of the spots or rosettes. In the same way, we can find snow marbles. [up]