Bengal (cat)
| Bengal Cat | |
|---|---|
Bengal cat
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| Origin | United States |
| Egyptian Mau, Abyssinian, and others (domestic); Asian leopard cat (wild) | |
| Breed standards | |
| FIFe | standard |
| TICA | standard |
| AACE | standard |
| ACF | standard |
| ACFA/CAA | standard |
| GCCF | standard |
| Feline hybrid (Felis catus × Prionailurus bengalensis bengalensis) | |
The Bengal is a domestic cat breed developed to look like exotic jungle cats such as leopards, ocelots, margays and clouded leopards. Bengal cats were developed by the selective breeding of domestic cats crossed then backcrossed and backcrossed once more with hybrids from the Asian leopard cat (ALC), Prionailurus bengalensis bengalensis, and domestic cat, with the goal of creating a confident, healthy, and friendly cat with a highly contrasted and vividly marked coat.
The name "Bengal cat" was derived from the taxonomic name of the Asian leopard cat (P. b. bengalensis). They have a "wild" appearance with large spots/rosettes/arrowheads, and a light/white belly, and a body structure reminiscent of the ALC. Once separated by at least four generations from the original ALC × domestic cat crossing, the breed possesses a gentle domestic cat temperament.
Bengal cats are generally a bright orange to light brown colour, although pale or off-white "snow" Bengals also exist, and are popular among owners.
The earliest mention of an Asian leopard cat × domestic cross was in 1889, when Harrison Weir wrote of them in Our Cats and All About Them.
However, in 1927, C. Boden Kloss wrote to the magazine Cat Gossip regarding hybrids between wild and domestic cats in Malaya: "I have never heard of hybrids between bengalensis (the Leopard Cat) and domestic cats. One of the wild tribes of the Malay Peninsula has domesticated cats, and I have seen the woman suckling bengalensis kittens, but I do not know whether the latter survive and breed with the others!"
The earliest mention of a confirmed ALC × domestic cross was in 1934, in a Belgian scientific journal., and in 1941, a Japanese cat publication printed an article about one that was kept as a pet. Jean Mill (née Sugden), the person who was later a great influence on the development of the modern Bengal breed, submitted a term paper for her genetics class at UC Davis on the subject of crossbreeding cats in 1946.
In the 1970s, Willard Centerwall bred ALCs with domestic cats to aid his studies in genetics because of their apparent immunity to feline leukemia. Eventually, these hybrids were given to Jean Sudgen Mill because of Centerwall's illness.
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Wikipedia