September 2002

 

Origin of the Bengal Cat

One fine day during the 1970s, a man called Dr. Willard Centerwall was doing a Feline Leukemia research at Loyola University, USA. He knew that a particular small and relatively unknown species of Asian wild cat was somehow immune to feline Leukemia, so he and his team of researchers used these cats to seek a cure for Leukemia in felines, in other species and in humans. The team cross bred these little wild cats with domestic cats to study the differences in the resulting offspring.

Since then, the National Institution of Health (NIH) has been and is still utilizing the early generation of these hybrids in their Feline Leukemia research. The work done in the research has been of a tremendous help in human medical research, in which new techniques are being devised to 'cure' similar  diseases in humans. Many breeders of the first generation of these hybrids (called F1) are still contributing blood samples from their F1 hybrids for this research.

Then in the early 1980's, Dr. Centerwall became ill. A lady named Jean Mill obtained several F1 hybrid cats from him. These hybrid cats went on to become some of the first domestic Bengal Cats and most Bengal Cats today can be traced back to these F1 specimens.

Jean Mill once said that her reason for breeding Bengal Cats was to put the coat of a leopard on that of a domestic cat in an effort to stop the sales of fur coats. She felt this would make it hard to sell fur coats that looked like those of pets, and would hence help to stop the trapping and killing of these animals in the wild.

Bengal Cats are said to be one of the healthiest and most intelligent of all breeds of domestic cats and are very prolific. Many breeders that breed Bengal Cats today, do so because of all the health and breeding problems they have had in the past with other breeds of cats.  Bengal Cats may also hold the key to the future health of all breeds of cats by contribution of new genes to other domestic cats if ever needed.

So which is that Asian wild cat that helped to create this unique new breed of domestic Bengal Cat? The answer is revealed below......

P.S. To avoid further infringing the copyrights of others on this webpage, please refer to the official Bengal Cat websites listed at the bottom of this page to read more detailed information and view their photos. The above edited passages were obtained from The International Bengal Breeders' Association, Inc. website.

 

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The Leopard Cat In conjunction with our current posters about big posters that are now put up at the Rangers' Station, Animal Spotlight presents to you another rare and beautiful member of the cat family.
	Scientific Name: Felis bengalensis Range: Northern India to China and Siberia, Taiwan and Southeast Asia down to Indonesia and the Philippines. Habitat: Forest floors and in trees Diet: Small mammals, small birds and big insects. Social structure: Solitary Life Span: Wild - 10 to 15 years
Conservation/status: Due to the recent laws that protect the 'big cats', poachers and dealers have switched to hunting leopard cats as a substitute. Because of their small sizes, as many as 15 leopard cats may be required to make a fur coat! Might be becoming endangered, highly threatened in Singapore. Habitat loss is another main threat. Remarks: Rather wild and nearly impossible to tame, often crossbred with domestic cats to produce pet cats with the beautiful spotted coats. This cross-breed is known as the Bengal Cat and this breed gets its name from the scientific name of the leopard cat, Felis bengalensis. Hence calling the breed 'Bengal Cat' has nothing to do with Bengal Tigers or anything. Interestingly, the Chinese call the leopard cat 'jin chien mao', literally translated as 'money cat'! This is possibly due to the fact that the spots on the cat's fur coat resemble the ancient Chinese copper coins. Another interesting fact - Do you know that the leopard cat is 1 of the 2 animal designs featured on the Night Safari tickets? Upon identifying the leopard cat's skull to guests, sometimes they may ask you what does this cat look like. You can then refer them to look at their own tickets and to the Fishing Cat Trail for a walk to meet the cats personally! The 7 leopard cats on the FCT are all siblings. In the wild, they would have long dispersed upon leaving their mother.

 

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