The Many Colours Of A Bengal Cat
Bengals come in many different colours. The three most common breed-accepted colours are brown, snow, and silver. However, we also now have a recently accepted agouti pattern effect that sometimes alters the appearance of colour - charcoal. Therefore, all colours come in a charcoal version of that particular colour. Breeders who know with certainty their cats' colour and agouti genetics can use a punnet square to predict the possible outcome of an upcoming litter. Testing is inexpensive and easily accessible. In the UK, it can be done through Langfords or Wisdom Panel.
The Brown Color Spectrum
While there are no official subcategories of the brown Bengal, the brown coat has the widest variety of shades. Think of the colour brown on a spectrum with grey at the coolest end and orange at the hottest end. A Bengal's coat can fall anywhere within that spectrum, and as long as it has a black tail tip, it's considered a brown. Even though we don't officially break down the browns, Bengal breeders have many terms we use to discuss the different colours of brown.
The Snow Color Spectrum
Snow colours were introduced through domestic cats. Seal Lynx entered the breed through the original group of moggies used in Dr. Ceneterwall's research study. Seal Sepia was introduced when Gogees and Nola catteries used Burmese cats in the breed. Nola produced the first seal sepia named Nola Kottin Pickin The snow series of colours were accepted as registered colors so that breeders could produce a duplicate of the snow leopard - even though snow leopards are not small forest-dwelling wildcats. Given the easy and inexpensive access we have to colour testing.
In order to help people understand snow genetics, one can compare them to crossing petunias. When white petunias are crossed with red petunias, the plants produced from these breedings will have pink flowers. The blending of the genes for white and for red results in an intermediate form.
The Seal Lynx
The Seal Lynx Bengal colour comes from the original research study done by Dr. Centerwall who produced the three "mothers" of the Bengal breed. Rorschach, Pennybank, and Praline are the three cats Jean Mills started with from Dr. Centerwall's research study. Lynx kittens are usually born completely white, and their pattern emerges with age. While the Lynx can often be thought of as the snow with the least amount of contrast, this is not always the case. The Seal Lynx Bengals are often sought after as they are the only Bengals with blue eyes.
The Seal Mink
The Seal Mink colouring occurs when the kitten has one Seal Lynx gene and one Seal Sepia gene. Seal Minks are born with a visible pattern. While their eyes are usually an aqua green, they can be gold. Eye color should not be used to determine coat color. Since a Mink must have both the Lynx and Sepia gene, a brown cat cannot carry for Mink because there is no Mink gene.
Following along with the petunia analogy, seal minks are the pink petunia. Minks acquire one gene from the white petunia and one gene from the red petunia, and they display an intermediary. Seal minks are the pink petunia.
The Seal Sepia
The Seal Sepia colour comes from an outcross to Burmese. Seal Sepia kittens are born with a visible pattern, and their eyes can range from green to gold. Within the sepia series, some cats can almost look like a yellow-brown, while others, have a definite snow-like colour with sepia markings. While they were originally thought to have the best contrast, all of the snows, if bred well, can result in good contrast. Often the sepia-colored cats have coats that most closely resemble the colors of the snow leopard as there is a gray-yellow tone in a snow leopard's base coat to allow it to blend with the rocks while they aren't covered in snow.
Seal Sepias are the red petunia in the petunia analogy. They are the darkest of the snow series.
Silver Bengals
Silver was introduced to the breed by outcrossing to the American Shorthair. Much controversy surrounded the inclusion of silver as an acceptable colour as it does not occur in any wild cat species. However, the popularity among breeders and pet buyers ultimately resulted in the inclusion of the silver colour. The Silver Bengal has a silvery gray to almost white base coat with dark gray to black markings. Silvers can have what breeders refer to as tarnish, brown tips on their silver coat, which is not desirable in the colour. This tarnish is linked to the rufous tones found on brown Bengals. The silver coloring is caused by the inhibitor gene. This gene prevents any yellow bands of pigment from occurring on the hair, which would create a brown coat. The inhibitor gene is dominant, meaning a Bengal with one copy will be silver.
Charcoal
Charcoal is not a colour. It is a pattern that may affect colour. Genetically, it is referred to as a pattern effect. Charcoal is the display of a mask and cape pattern. Charcoal MAY display when one or more leopard cat agouti genes are present. Agouti is what signals the hairs to display a pattern or not. Cats with agouti have one of the following patterns: ticked, classic, striped (mackerel), or spotted. Cats who do not have agouti do not have a pattern; they are solid. Dr. Chris Kaelin, Stanford geneticist, discovered that the leopard cat agouti gene is different from the agouti gene that is present in most domestic cats, the felis agouti gene. Because leopard cats and felis cats would not breed in nature, their DNA doesn't always understand one another's codes.
Something about mixing leopard cat agouti with felis-derived genetics causes an irregular alteration of colour and pattern. In its most extreme form, it creates a mask on the cat's face and a cape down its back.
Many people call leopard cat agouti (abbreviated Apb which stands for Agouti Prionailurus bengalensis) charcoal. Apb, on its own, cannot produce charcoal. All leopard cats are homozygous for Apb. Leopard cats do not display charcoal patterns. For Apb to accurately be called charcoal, the mask and cape pattern would need to consistently display when Apb is homozygous - Apb/Apb. The charcoal pattern does not consistently display when a cat is Apb/Apb as evident by leopard cats and by our F1 Gayzette Anatolia who is Apb/Apb and not charcoal.
It takes BOTH Apb and undetermined felis-cat-derived genes to create the pattern effect that we call charcoal. When breeders say their cats carry charcoal, it is not a genetically correct statement. What they most likely mean is their cat has one copy of leopard cat agouti or Apb. When mixed with unknown felis-derived-genetics, Apb is capable of producing a charcoal pattern effect.
Less Common Colours and Agouti (solid) Patterns
Bengals come in a few more colours and agouti patterns; however, most of these less common varieties are not accepted by all registries and are not a standard color for the Bengal breed.
The dilute colour blue is the most common "uncommon" colour. Dilute has been in the breed from the beginning as at least one of the hybrids Jean Mill received from Dr. Centerwall carried one copy of the dilute allele.
A handful of breeders have purposefully introduced red, chocolate, and cinnamon; admittedly, we do not understand how this offers any benefit to the breed.
In addition, non-agouti, which is solid, has been around from the start and is being bred for by breeders as well. Solid can come in any of the colours above, but the most frequent colour is black.
