Bengal Breed Information
Photo of an Asian Leopard Cat I had saved to my phone years ago. This is the vision of what we are striving for in our breeding program. Source unknown - please DM for credit.
Bengal cats are a domestic breed of cats that descend from an initial hybridization with an Asian Leopard Cat (commonly abbreviated as ALC), Prionailurus bengalensis. There are actually several different subspecies of Asian Leopard Cats which have been used in the creation of the breed. After that initial hybridization between an ALC and a domestic cat, the F1 female hybrid is then bred with another domestic cat. This is repeated until we are 4 generations away from the ALC at which point the cat is considered domestic (denoted as SBT which is short for “Stud Book Tradition”). The cats produced in those first 3 generations following the initial outcross are referred to as Early Generation or “EG” Bengals. The designations would be as follows: ALC, F1, G2, G3, SBT.
The Bengal breed was created as an alternative way to capture the beauty of the wild Asian Leopard Cat without encouraging the illegal trade or trafficking of wildlife. Yes, there are still people who work with ALCs and EG cats, but this is left to experienced breeders who utilize male ALCs from already captive populations. This is done to refine the domestic breed bringing through more of those wild traits associated with a small forest dwelling nocturnal cat, like ALCs, while also increasing genetic diversity in the breed.
Some of the domestic breeds used alongside ALCs in the creation of the Bengal breed include Ocicats and Egyptian Maus, but in the years since the inception of the breed, outcrosses have been done with other breeds to promote genetic diversity. The result is a beautiful, smart, and high energy cat breed.