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People say, "That bengal has
type." So...what does TYPE mean?
If you could take the pattern
away from your bengal...would it still look like a cat that just stepped out of
the jungle or would it look like a domestic cat?
Photos of
Double Champion Adventure Beach Amazon.
The qualities that can give a
bengal it's wild look can include small round ears, fat leopard tail, large
nocturnal eyes, athletic body with flowing movement (that leopard cat walk!),
wild panther shaped head, substantial chin, puffy whisker pads...all of that and
more is TYPE.
So is there a perfect bengal
that has it all? No, but the more of each quality they have, the less domestic
they look. The bengals we will be looking at on this page are SBTs (at least
four generations from an Asian leopard cat).
Let's look at some of these
qualities of TYPE...what do we want to see?
EARS...what
should they look like?
First of all, the smaller the
better...
...and the rounder the better.
SOME GOOD EXAMPLES:
Look at the tiny round ears on our
girl Clouded Spirit.
Look at the tiny round ears on our
boy Painted Spirit...
...and his son Paint The Town (at 5 months
old he is still growing into his ears!).
Vot also has very small
round ears...
and so does Kal-El!
Large or pointed /triangular ears are
qualities common in domestic cats. They take away from the wild look of a bengal's head.
 
Small round ears help give bengals
a non-domestic look. 
Spirit
Quest who has wonderful small round ears and thick tail.
Most wild cats have small round ears (tigers, leopards,
snow leopards,
lions, cheetahs, Asian leopard cats...). Ears like this give bengal kittens a
wonderful cub-like appearance and adult bengals a much wilder look.
 
 
 
Many people say that their bengals
have small rounded ears, when in fact they have ears that look no different than
many housecats. If we are trying to model our bengals on the Asian leopard cat
or other wild cats, then we should not be satisfied until that goal is
accomplished. Our personal goal is to always be moving closer with our bengals
to the wonderful ears found on
the wild cats of the world.
Photos of
Grand Champion Adventure Beach
Mountain Melody,
Double Champion Adventure Beach
Blithe Spirit and
Quadruple Grand Champion/Supreme Roll
of Honor Adventure Beach Spirit Quest (right and below).
  
TAILS...what
should they look like?
Bengal tails should be as far away
from the thin "whippy" domestic cat tail as possible.
SOME GOOD EXAMPLES:
Look at the thick,
leopard-like tail on our girl
Double Champion Adventure Beach Spirit Dancer
(a Painted Spirit daughter at 5 months old).
Look at the thick, leopard-like
tail and small round ears on our girl
Quadruple Champion
Adventure Beach Cloudburst (a Vot
daughter) and the wild looking tail on
Painted Secret
(another Painted Spirit daughter).
This is Ivan (his father Rambo was
2000 On Safari Breeder' Choice Best Bengal Tail) and it has been passed
on.
Our boy Painted Spirit winning a
BEST CAT final at On Safari. In addition to being the 2004 On Safari Best of the
Congresses Winner, On Safari Breeder's Choice Best Adult Male Bengal and Best
Marble Bengal, he also was awarded the
Breeder's Choice Best Bengal Tail
for his thick rosetted tail and
Breeder's Choice Best Bengal Ears for his
tiny, round ears.
This is Painted Spirit's son Paint
The Town...Spirit is passing on those wild looking ears and tails too.
This
is Painted Spirit's son Quadruple Grand Champion/Supreme
Roll of Honor Adventure Beach Spirit Quest as a kitten... what a difference a
thick tail makes in the overall look of a bengal.
All in the family... look at the
thick, leopard-like tail on Clouded Spirit (as well as her tiny rounded ears
again). An outstanding bengal tail should be thick and muscular, carried low,
with a blunt, rounded, virtually black tip (even on snow bengals).
Why...because it gives them the
look we see in beautiful wild cats.
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