Bengal Cat
The Making of a Hybrid Breed

History

Say Bengal Cat and you immediately think dense, green jungle foliage and wild exotic cats. The Bengal beauty has its roots in the Southern Asian jungles of India, Bangladesh and the Southeast Asian mainland.

This is a hybrid cat breed, developed by mating a captive Asian Leopard cat (prionailurus bengalensis), with a domestic cat. It was originally know as a Leopardette, but the name was later changed to one more closely linked to its scientific name.

The existence of this cat is thanks to Jean Sugden-Mill from the USA. She purchased an Asian Leopard (miniature leopard) in 1963 and crossed it with a queen American Shorthair domestic cat - the result, a cat with the physical features of a wild cat, but the wonderful temperament of a domestic cat!

Due to personal reasons, she put her breeding program on hold. The interest in and the attraction to the Asian Leopard did not stop here. Apart from their magnificent spotted coats and swimming abilities, this wild cat also appeared immune to feline leukemia.

In the early 70's, Dr Centerwall of the University of California conducted research on hybrids of the Asian Leopard, but found that the resistance to feline leukemia did not pass beyond the first generation. With the discovery of a vaccine for this cat disease, research was abandoned and the kittens involved in the research given to Jean Mill who revived her selective breeding program.

The Asian Leopard was also crossed with other breeds of domestic cat i.e. Abyssinian cat, Egyptian Mau, Siamese cat and Burmese cat to create new lines of Bengal cats.

Another fascinating fact about this hybrid cat is that the offspring of wild cat crosses (i.e. cross-species breeding) are normally sterile, but not so in the Bengal. In the initial breeding program the females were fertile and crossed with the sire to produce beautiful spotted Bengal kittens.

Interested in this 'wild' spotted cat and need more cat facts?

Related Cat Pages:

Bengal Cats - behavior and temperament

Cat pics - a gallery of stunning cat photos

Return to Types of Cats

Return from Bengal Cat to Cat Breeds Home Page

Cat Pictures courtesy of:

© Sarah Thexton Photography

Brown Spotted Bengal Sp Pr Glitterkatz Spots and Dots Owner: Dr W Fogarty of Glitterkatz

Top Photo: © Leighleo | Dreamstime.com