Brown is the most common color of the Bengal cat and it is the result of a dominant gene “C.” Just one of the parents has to be brown for the kitten to have brown coat. There is a great selection of brown colors...gold, beige, mahogany, reddish/orange, and charcoal brown.
I want to thank Terra Sinclair for letting me use pictures and concepts about Bengal cat colors. Visit her Bengals at www.littleleopardcats.com
The reddish/orange color is called rufoused which is a degree of orange/yellow pigment in the ground color.
The charcoal brown color is determined by a dominant gene. Some brown charcoal
kittens look silver when they are born because of the black markings and lighter
background. When they reach adulthood they will have jet black markings and a silver-
Brown charcoal spotted Bengal Brown charcoal marbled kitten from LikaLeopard Bengals
There are three types of snow Bengals. Seal Lynx Point, Seal Mink, and Seal Sepia. Even though the genetics of the snows could be a little perplexing I will try to make it simple. Let’s say that a snow kitten inherits one gene from each parent. One of those genes, called “color point restriction gene” controls the color of the kitten coat. The restriction gene has its origins in the early days of the the breeding programs when Siamese and Burmese cats were introduced.
The gene combination is as follows:
Siamese cat: cscs
Burmese cat: cbcb
This combination of recessive genes gives the cats their color (letter “C” and “c” means coat.
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Seal Lynx Point
Lynx point Bengals have inherited the recessive Siamese gene (s).They are usually white when they are born, however, with time, the color and markings become darker. The Seal Lynx Point Bengal has blue eyes.
Seal Mink
The Seal Mink Bengal has both, Burmese and Siamese genes (b and s). Because of this combination of genes, a Seal Mink needs to be bred to a carrier of Seal Lynx or Seal Sepia to produce either a Seal Lynx Point or Seal Sepia. Minks are darker than Seal Lynx when they are born, however, they are not as dark as Seal Sepias. Their eye color is green and their color is light brown at birth and medium brown when they are adults.
Seal Mink kitten from ZawieCo Bengals
Seal Sepia
The Seal Sepia inherited the Burmese recessive gene (b). They have green or gold eyes. When they are born their color is medium to dark brown with dark markings. When they mature they have a beautiful, distinctive color.
Seal Sepia kitten from Junglelure
Silver Bengals are quite new. They owe their shade to a dominant gene: one or both parents should carry the “I” Inhibitor gene of the background color which inhibits the production of pigment in the hair strand.
Sometimes when the “I” gene does not work properly the inhibition is incomplete. This incomplete inhibition is called “tarnish.” When this occurs, the silver kitten may have just a brown strip or have brown spots.
Silver “Tarnished” kitten
The Black Bengal color also called “Melanistic” is produced by the absence of
the “Agouti” gene (A) which is responsible for the Bengal patterns. In this case
suppressing the “A” gene is the non-
A variety of colors have been developed by breeders of the Bengal cat. I am presenting a short and simple view of these colors. However, I will dedicate a special page to the Blue Bengals, which I love.
