What do bengal cats look like? I went to Flickr to look for some photos to show you. I searched through "Everybody's uploads" using the search term bengal cats.
Given the popularity of this new breed, it was no surprise that lots of results popped up. Constraining the search to "tags only" helped narrow the results.
Some photos were for bengal tigers rather than for domestic housecats, but for the most part, I found just what I was looking for.
Not every shot I came across would allow me to download it. Clearly some photographers wanted only to display their work without allowing viewers to have copies.
However, quite a few photographers were willing to allow downloads. Here are a few of the images I came across:
Okay. So what are we looking at? Quick course: Bengals 101.
Some bengals have small, round, solid spots like cheetahs. Just look at the gorgeous kitty below.
photographer: Watchcaddy
Many bengals, however, have actual rosettas that resemble those of jaguars. Look down.
See how this cat's markings are made up of groupings of spots with an open area in the middle that is lighter in color than the spots, but darker than the surrounding field? Pretty cool.
photographer: Watchcaddy
And there's another spotting pattern that's quite a bit rarer.
The spots are larger with less space between them. They more closely resemble the broad, patch-like spotting of the clouded leopard.
The coat of the kitty below is tending more toward the clouded pattern than that of the jaguar.
photographer: Knein
Then there are the marbled bengals. Their coat pattern is not spotted at all, but swirled, almost like that of an ocelot. They can be quite stunning, like the young cat pictured below.
photographer: Junglelure
I have just described the possible patterns of the bengal coat. But don't forget to think about color in addition to pattern.
Most bengals, like the one pictured here, have brown coloration. Their coats consist of various shades of black, dark brown, rust brown, and buff.
photographer: alexanderino
Less common, but much in demand, are silver bengals. Their color range includes mostly black, charcoal, medium gray, and silvery gray. Below is a lovely silver marbled bengal.
photographer: p.smithson
Finally, there are the snow bengals. This is the newest color variation. These bengals are being bred to resemble snow leopards.
They are very pale in color. Like Siamese cats, they are born pure white. Their color develops as they mature.
Another point of similarity between snow bengals and their Siamese cousins is that many snow bengals have beautiful blue eyes.
photographer: barkerja
So what do the two cats at my house look like?
One is a classic brown tabby, beautiful enough to be a bengal--she even has ear tufts!--although she almost certainly is not. (She is a rescue kitty, obtained from a shelter.)
She does a great bengal impersonation, however, and looks almost exactly like the marbled brown bengal below whose photo I found on Flickr. It's hard to imagine how someone could have abandoned this gorgeous cat.
photographer: ramsescity2003
As for our newest addition, he is an eight-month-old snow bengal, specifically a chocolate lynx-point marble. He looks like some sort of delicious ice cream treat made with fudge ripple.
He, too, is a rescue kitty, whose breeder was unable to keep her bengal cattery going in the face of sudden overwhelming medical bills.
He had a couple of health problems as a kitten and could not immediately be sold. A friend of the breeder nursed him back to health and then adopted him out for a song. We can't believe how lucky we are to have him!
Here's a marbled snow bengal from Flickr with a similar look.
photographer: gribb0
I am now officially exhausted. I can't tell you how many hours it took me to do this blogpost!
Finding the photos was easy enough. However, I was unable to download them directly to Blogger. I had to download them to my computer first, then upload them to the blog.
Nor could I cut-and-paste the URL to the Flickr image! I had to create every backlink by hand. Twice.
Type it into the blog, then type it into the link field. Double-check the spelling both places by referring back to the Flickr window. Major pain.
Plus, once I got the photos uploaded to the blog, I could not move them around. They stayed put at the top of the blogpost. No way to insert them where I wanted them in the text.
This meant I had to find the photos, write the blog, figure out the order in which the photos needed to appear, upload them in reverse order, then rewrite the text around the photos.
Do you know how crazed I am at this point?
I will now post and check the links. They'd better work, or I swear I will gnaw through the restraints and rampage through Tokyo devouring skyscrapers.
If--and this is a big if--I'm not required to do any major bad-link triage, I'll consider breaking out my digital camera and photographing my actual cats so you can see them.
If I succeed, I'll sign up for a Flickr account and upload the photos. Stay tuned!
