What would the female kits of a purebred charcoal bengal father and a tortoiseshell mother (carries dilute and tabby, under 10% white if any white at all, long-furred) look like? Could one of the kits resemble the father?
Well, charcoal is an interesting pattern specific to bengals that I don’t know much about, but I’ll try my best. According to the resources I’ve found, charcoal bengals come about by combining the Asian leopard cat agouti gene with the domestic cat non-agouti gene. I’m having trouble finding more detailed information, so I’m going to assume that this cat is genetically heterozygous agouti.
If anyone has more detailed information on the genetics of bengal patterns, please send it our way! I’d love to be able to provide better information about bengal patterns when we get asks about them.
The female kits would be black/brown or tortoiseshell. They’ll probably have a 50/50 chance of being tabby instead of solid. I’m not 100% how their tabby patterns would work out due to their father’s genetics, but I’m told marbled patterns are often the result of purebred rosetted bengals breeding with non-bengals.
I think one of the kits resembling the father to some extent would be pretty realistic, at least given my limited understanding of bengal genetics, but I would advise against giving the kits rosettes -- marbled patterns are more likely, in my experience.
~ E