The Russian breeder, Лариса Десятова, of this very interesting-looking black purebred cat describes him as a: 🧚♀️ Bengali male 🧚♀️ melanistic, born 30/11/20/.
I believe that she means “Bengal male”. There is no breed called the ‘Bengali’ to the best of my knowledge or at least I have never heard of such a breed. It is strange, therefore that she uses this terminology. She is a breeder of Bengal cats, as far as I can tell, as well as dwarf hairless cats and non-dwarf hairless catssuch as the Elf.
Russian cat breeders do some extraordinary things. They do take matters to the extreme. If this cat is a black Bengal cat then it is a melanistic cat as she mentions. This, as you might know, is a genetic mutation which occurs in the wild in which causes the normal coat turns to a dark charcoal or near-black with ghost spots and markings. It is quite common in servals in the wild, for example.
Years ago, when I visited A1 Savannahs near Ponca city in Oklahoma, USA, I photographed a melanistic F4 Savannah cat which you can see below. I believe, therefore, that the cat on this page described as a ‘Bengali male melanistic’ is indeed a melanistic Bengal cat. He certainly caught my eye. I have never seen a cat like him except, as mentioned, the Savannah cat I photographed all those years ago.
It surprises me, actually, why breeders have not selectively bred black Bengal cats before. No doubt this was an accident but I wonder whether through selective breeding they might be able to control it? Perhaps they feel that there is an insufficient market for black cats because in general they are unpopular.
But there is a popularity for black panthers in the wild. These are very popular animals creating an interest which might be tapped into, to create an interest in black, melanistic Bengal cats. Perhaps the problem is that the coat of the Bengal cat is so stunning it would be counterproductive to cover it all up with black!
