Special colors:

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The Melanistic Bengal

 

Just like the black panther, leopard and jaguar, there are melanistic variants in the Bengals. 

These little panthers have the build and strokes that an ordinary Bengal also has. The coat is special and consists of a shiny coat with "ghostmarkings". The print is present but due to the melanistic best visible in the sunlight. 

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The Smoke Bengal

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The (silver) smoke is genetically a melanistic Bengal with the inhibitor (I) gene. This is the gene responsible for the silver color. 

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The (silver) smoke has a white undercoat and a black opaque coat / print. This gives a smoke look combined. There is, as it were, a layer of smoke over the silver coat. Because the smoke is lighter in color, the pattern will remain more clearly present than with the melanistic Bengal. 

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The Solid

 

The snow variant and the blue variant are called solid.

These are the seal lynx solid, seal mink solid, seal sepia solid and solid blue. Genetically, they are just like the melanistic and the smoke only in a different color. 

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The Genetics

 

The gene responsible for the plain coat is the Agouti gene. Agouti is responsible for the distribution of the pigment. The Agouti gene is indicated by the capital A.

 

The solid colored coat is caused by the recessive form of the gene. This is called non-agouti. 

Recessive means that 2 of them are needed before it will actually give a visibly plain coat. The non-agouti is indicated by a lowercase letter a. The plain coat is therefore a/a (plain/plain)

 

A cat that only carries 1 non agouti gene will itself be normal of pigment and color distribution. These cats, when combined with another carrier, can have kittens with plain coats. 

 

 The color of the coat is determined by the color of the pigment present. If this is black/brown, the plain coat will become melanistic. If this is silver, it is called smoke and the snow variants are called solid lynx point, solid mink point or solid sepia point depending on which snow variant the cat is. 

 

These are the possible results of the Agouti gene:

 

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• A/A = Agouti/Agouti: A normal distribution of the pigment and colour. This cat is not a melanistic, smoke or solid. No melanistic, smoke or solid can be expected with any combination.

• A/a = Agouti/non-agouti: A normal coat distribution of the pigment and colour. This cat is a carrier of the non-agouti gene but is not. Combined with another carrier, melanistic, smoke or solid can be expected here depending on the colors of the animals.

• a/a = non-agouti/non-agouti: A plain coat, this animal is a melanistic, smoke or solid depending on the color of the animal. Combined with another carrier, melanistic, smoke or solid can again be expected. Or if this is not desired, this can be prevented by the combination with an A / A.

 

Below are the possibilities in a diagram.

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