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Bengal Colours

At the very simplest level, Bengal cats come in two different patterns and three different background colours. The pattern is either spotted or marbled, and the background colour is either brown, white or silver. White Bengals are referred to as 'snow's.

 

BrownBrown Bengal MarkingSnowSnow Bengal MarkingSilverSilver Bengal Marking

 

Simply put there are therefore, four main types of Bengal:

 

Arrowhead rosettes markingsTwo-tone arrowhead rosettes Marble markingsMarbled

Arrowghead markingsSpots slight arrowhead shapeRosetted markings Full rosettes

 

Bengals come in a variety of shapes, sizes and patterns. Some have many small spots, whilst others have fewer large spots, which is considered quite desirable, though there is nothing wrong with a Bengal with lots of spots! The 'basic' Bengal spot is solid colour and roughly circular. However, many breeders aim for producing more 'wild-looking' arrow-head shaped spots, or 'rosettes' which vary from simply two-tone spots to 'full' rosettes with a part circle of spots around a distinctly lighter centre..
The spotting on a Bengal should be random or horizontal in alignment, avoiding lining up or joining up in obvious stripes. 'Rib stripes' in particular are considered undesirable. The spots should always be very clear and stand out distinctly from the background colour. It can be particularly hard to find snow Bengals where the markings are as clear as might be liked, and purchasing a snow is not helped by the fact that, as with Siamese, they are born white and only develop their markings over the first few months!
Though most Bengals are simply classed as 'brown' there is actually a modest amount of colour variation between different cats, which reflects the variation found in the wild between different Asian Leopard Cats. 'Browns' can come in shades of brown which are sandy, grey, golden, deep red and so on, all of which are allowed, though highly rufous golden browns are often considereddesirable. Some breeders have found that there can be a pay-off between either getting a good background colour or getting good clear markings, and therefore sometimes aim to produce the best cats by mating cats which carry good colour to those with good markings.

An additional unique characteristic of the Bengal colour is that some cats have a distinct "glitter" effect over their fur, as if each hair were tipped with gold dust. This remarkable characteristic is considered highly desirable. It is also desirable that the underside of the cat should be lighter coloured, like the 'white tummies' of Asian Leopard Cats. A Bengal cat's 'whited tummy' should always be spotted, unlike the bright white paws and chest bib found in domestic tabby cats.

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