The Snow Bengal:

 

The snow Bengal can be found in 3 different colors: the lynx, mink and sepia.

 

The seal lynx

 

The seal lynx Bengal comes from the Siamese. This variant is therefore known for the early curling (in unsterilized cats) and the vocalness as in the Siamese. 

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These snows are born (almost) completely white. The drawing is sometimes only slightly present and develops further as the cat gets older. The development of the colors will first become visible, such as at the point marking, on the ears, nose, tail and legs. The coat develops slowly until they are more than 1 to 1.5 years old.

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The seal lynx is the only coat color known for their beautiful blue eyes that they retain when they get older.

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In combination with a seal lynx, a sepia kitten can never be born.

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The seal mink

 

The seal mink Bengal (carries 1 x siamese 1 x burmese)

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The mink is a mixture of the snow variations seal lynx and the seal sepia. The mink has a visible pattern from day 1. Although it can sometimes be light, it is already present. This is lighter in color than the sepia Bengal but darker than the seal lynx. A mink has blue-green eyes. 

The mink carries both snow genes, which is why you can create all three snow colors in combination with this snow species. Genetically speaking, you cannot "carry" or "pass on" the color mink. It is the combination siamese-burmese that makes the cat a mink.

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The Seal Sepia

 

The seal sepia Bengal (from the burmese)

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This snow variation is the darkest of the three. The sepia immediately has a beautiful visible coat pattern at birth. The sepia Bengal often has smaller ears and beautiful green or gold/copper colored eyes.

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A sepia Bengal can never get a seal lynx and never has blue colored eyes.
 

 

The heredity

 

The snow gene inherits resessively, this means that the coat color only becomes "snow" when the cat has received 2 x the snow gene from the parents (1 from father 1 from mother). If the cat has only received 1 snow gene, it will have a different coat color (brown or silver) but will carry snow.

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The 3 types of snow are caused by 2 different genes as mentioned earlier. The Siamese gene and the burmese gene. 

 

A seal lynx is created because 2 x the Siamese gene is passed on through the parents to the kitten. Both parents are therefore seal lynx or seal lynx carriers. The seal lynx gene is indicated by "cs". 

The sepia bengal arises because 2 x the burmese gene is passed on through the parents to the kitten. So both parents are sepia or sepia carriers. The sepia gene is indicated by "cb". 

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The mink is created by the combination of the 2 genes above. The mink therefore has both the cs (lynx) and the cb (burmese) gene. ​

Mother           +        father =     kitten

cs/cs (lynx)            cs/cs (lynx)    always seal lynx

cb/cb (sepia)         cb/cb (sepia) always sepia

cs/cs (lynx)            cb/cb (sepia) always mink

cb/cs (mink)          cb/cs (mink) seal lynx or seal mink or seal sepia

cs/cs (lynx)            cb/cs (mink)  seal lynx or seal mink

cb/cs (mink)          cb/cb (sepia) seal mink or seal sepia

 

It therefore depends on what kind of gene the parent gives to determine what color the kitten can be.

 

Mom (gives) + dad (gives) = kitten

 

cs         +       cs            -->      cs/cs = seal lynx

cs         +       cb            -->      cs/cb = seal mink

cb         +       cb            -->      cb/cb = seal sepia

cb         +       cs            -->      cb/cs = seal mink

 

A nice diagram where you can see at a glance what the possibilities are is this one​

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It often happens that Bengals are carriers of one of the snow colors. To know for sure what a cat is wearing, you can do a DNA color test.

 

These are the possibilities:

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• C/C = full color , doesn't carry snow

• C/cs = seal lynx carrier

• C/cb = sepia carrier

• cs/cs =  seal lynx

• cs/cb =  mink

• cb/cb = sepia ​

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Below are the possibilities in a diagram.