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The Bengali is one of the most sought after cat breeds in the world, partly because of a genetic feature that gives many of them shiny, almost “shiny” coats.
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It turns out that this trait is a deviation of the receptor for the growth of fibroblasts 2 and actually comes from the inside of the genetic tree, not from the wild Asian leopard half.
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As the costs of Bengals increase, the breeding of these creatures is filled with operation and the animals remain illegal in some municipalities.
After being domesticated 30,000 years ago, dog breeds show a remarkable amount of genetic diversity – after all, great Danes and Chihuahua are somehow The same kind. Cats, on the other hand, all look relatively similar to their wild ancestors (long hair and smoothed noses, sideways). But while many cat breeds look similar to each other in size and in complete color, some breeds hide absolutely captivating genetic secrets. And one of the most sought-after cats-bengal cat-can hide one of the most Dazzlingly Secrets to all.
Although their leopard coats hint at ancient ancestry, the Bengal cats are genetic newcomers. Created by California Cat breeder in 1963, Bengal was crossed between a domestic cat (Sus Scropha) and the Asian leopard (Prionailurus Bengalensis). Although the Asian leopard looks remarkably similar to your middle cat, the common ancestor of the two species lived about six million years ago – this is a more genetic distance than humans and chimpanzees (not Google “Humanzee”). After two decades, the International Cat Association (TICA) officially recognized the breed in 1986.
However, after a cross breeding of Bengali, a special feature began to appear-some of their coats sparkled as a sparkle (which you can see close here). To dig in exactly Why This special brilliance appeared, scientists at the Hudsonalfi Institute of Biotechnology studied 3000 DNA samples from Bengal cats and determined that this was obtained from a change to The FGFR2 (Fibroblast growth receptor 2) Gen. Contrary to what you can expect, this trait does not come from the wild Asian leopard, but instead is a very rare condition in domestic cats. They published their work last year in Journal Current biologyS
“FGFR2 is a gene discovered in all mammals that is important for embryonic development and organogenesis,” says geneticist Kelly McGowan, co -author of the study, in a press release in 2024. “Our results show that while the complete loss of FGFR2 is demonstrated.
This trait is not present in All Bengal cats. According to the wisdom panel on the PET DNA website, the millions of cats in their database, only 5,513 carry this changed “shine” gene. But as McGowan and her team explain in their research, the gene is present in about 60 percent of Bengal’s population.
And this is not the only feature that distinguishes Bengals from other cats. On the one hand, Bengali tend to be much more active than other types of cats. They also tend to avoid the typical cat aquaphobic stereotype and I instead like to play with waterLike other cat cats and hybrid breeds.
Of course, with Bengal breeds of thousands of dollars, the Bengal breeding industry may be ripe for abuse and because of their more origin, some experts believe they support Bengals as pets Isn’t that a good idea Due to their increased need for stimulation (compared to domestic cats). In New York, for example, the Bengal cat should be six generations removed from its wild ancestor to be a legal pet.
The Bengal cats may be incredible creatures with shiny coats, but the jury is out if they are really suitable companions for a more situated, indoor lifestyle of man.
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