The Bengal cat’s marbled pattern is definitely stunning and it owes its legacy to the out crossing of the ALC with a domestic mackerel (vertical stripes) tabby in the early days of the Bengal breed development. The result is a horizontally flowing swirl pattern that resembles marble. This is a genetically recessive trait, which means that both parents have to carry the marbled genes to produce marbled kittens. This exotic pattern is also found in other cats such as the king cheetah, clouded leopard, and the ocelot.
The marbled pattern is produced by large, horizontal swirled bands of brown, black and cream colors. Marbled kittens are born with just two colors, black and the background color. As they grow a third color may appear. The contrast between the coat ground color and the swirls should be extreme as we can appreciate in the picture of our stud FireStruck. Vertical strips are undesirable. TICA’s standard gives preference to Bengals with three or more shades.
Clouded Leopard
Ocelot
King Cheetah
