WEBVTT - How Do Bengal Cats Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. About six million years ago,

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<v Speaker 1>two feline factions went their separate ways. A small bodied

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<v Speaker 1>cat living in Europe became the common ancestor of both groups.

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<v Speaker 1>One lineage eventually gave rise to Felis catus, the modern

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<v Speaker 1>domestic cat kept in millions of households. The other produced

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<v Speaker 1>a species known as and forgive my rusty Latin priyan

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<v Speaker 1>Aileris ben galensis, or the wild leopard cat. Distributed across

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<v Speaker 1>southern and Eastern Asia. It prowls forests, farms, and grasslands.

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<v Speaker 1>Weighing about seven to fifteen pounds that's about three to

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<v Speaker 1>seven kilos on average. A few would mistake the creature

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<v Speaker 1>for an actual leopard, yet it's a skilled predator all

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<v Speaker 1>the same, and just like leopards. Many of these wee

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<v Speaker 1>beasties are covered with rosettes roundish spot clusters that surround

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<v Speaker 1>lighter patches of fur. In the twentieth century, demand for

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<v Speaker 1>exotic looking pets created a hybrid cat market by crossing P.

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<v Speaker 1>Bengalensis with the more familiar Felis catis. A new breed

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<v Speaker 1>rose and prominence athletic and willful. This so called Bengal

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<v Speaker 1>cat can be quite a handful, and as we'll see,

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<v Speaker 1>it's no stranger to controversy. One of the cat lovers

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<v Speaker 1>who helped the Bengal get its start was geneticist Williard

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<v Speaker 1>center Wall. In nine, center Wall, then a professor at

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<v Speaker 1>California's Loma Linda University, began crossing domestic cats with leopard cats.

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<v Speaker 1>The latter are resistant to the feline version of leukemia

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<v Speaker 1>cancer he was studying. Through his hybridized cats, center Wall

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<v Speaker 1>sought new insights into the hereditary processes associated with this disorder.

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<v Speaker 1>He wasn't the first person to breed leopard cats with domestics.

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<v Speaker 1>Reports show that other hybrids were born as far back

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<v Speaker 1>as nineteen thirty one, and we can't discuss Bengal origins

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<v Speaker 1>without acknowledging the late gene Mill. A collaborator of center Walls.

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<v Speaker 1>This conservationist made it a leper cat with a black

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<v Speaker 1>tom cat in nineteen sixty three. Thus began a decades

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<v Speaker 1>long passion for Bengals. Mills gorgeous animals and their descendants

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<v Speaker 1>would soon become regulars at high profile cat shows. That

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<v Speaker 1>visibility popularized the breed as a whole. Another breeder of

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<v Speaker 1>note was Bill Angler, a zookeeper and longtime animal importer,

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<v Speaker 1>using a leopard cat named Shah Angler bread a number

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<v Speaker 1>of half domestic half wild kittens in the early nineteen seventies.

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<v Speaker 1>He might have also given these critters their popular name.

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<v Speaker 1>Popular Myths says that Bengal could be a play on

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<v Speaker 1>the abbreviation be Angler. Of course, it could simply stand

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<v Speaker 1>from the species name bean glensis. The world may never know. Today,

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<v Speaker 1>you can find Bengals in a number of different colors

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<v Speaker 1>and patterns. Most people associate these animals with the rosette

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<v Speaker 1>markings detailed above, but not all rosettes look alike. They

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<v Speaker 1>can be pointed and vaguely arrow shaped, or circular with

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<v Speaker 1>a doughnut like flare. Other Bengals have so called paw

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<v Speaker 1>print rosettes. As the name implies, those splotches almost look

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<v Speaker 1>like animal tracks. And then you've got Bengals with swirling,

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<v Speaker 1>multitoned marble coats instead of the more traditional spots. Back

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<v Speaker 1>Millbred the first known kitten to rock this distinctive first style.

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<v Speaker 1>The coat space color can be quite variable too, depending

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<v Speaker 1>on the individual, can look brown, golden, charcoal, gray, silvery,

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<v Speaker 1>or even whitish. And that's right, folks, there are white

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<v Speaker 1>furred Bengal cats who look like miniature snow leopards out

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<v Speaker 1>there underneath their showy coats. Bengals tend to have muscular physiques.

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<v Speaker 1>According to the Cat Fanciers Association, the hind legs are

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<v Speaker 1>a bit taller than the shoulders. In general, adult Bengals

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<v Speaker 1>way about eight to fifteen pounds or four to seven kilos,

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<v Speaker 1>a tiny bit more than their wild ancestors. But these

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<v Speaker 1>guys have a well earned reputation as energetic felines. Fond

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<v Speaker 1>of long walks and games of fetch. Bengals are on

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<v Speaker 1>the move almost constantly. To prevent boredom, keepers can stock

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<v Speaker 1>up on toys or get their pet a feline playmate.

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<v Speaker 1>Like Savannah cats, another hybrid breed, Bengals have an affinity

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<v Speaker 1>for water related activities, from swimming in kittie pools to

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<v Speaker 1>showering with their owners. If you don't know what you're

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<v Speaker 1>getting into, all that stamina can feel overwhelming. Too Often,

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<v Speaker 1>people who are drawn to the breed's wild appearance are

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<v Speaker 1>unprepared for its wild lifestyle. Partly for this reason, the

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<v Speaker 1>Minnesota based Wildcat Sanctuary and Tampa Floor It's a Big

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<v Speaker 1>Cat Rescue to Organizations that provide housing and care for

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<v Speaker 1>exotic feelines have discouraged would be owners from buying hybrid

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<v Speaker 1>cats bengals included. For her part, Mill believed that the

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<v Speaker 1>normalization of pet bengals would both decrease the public's appetite

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<v Speaker 1>for luquard skin coats and raise awareness about wildcat conservation.

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<v Speaker 1>It's important to do your research before buying any kind

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<v Speaker 1>of new pet. If you're looking to purchase a Bengal

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<v Speaker 1>kitten or adult, look into the creature's ancestry. The heritage

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<v Speaker 1>of an individual cat may affect its trainability. Bengals with

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<v Speaker 1>wild parents or grandparents usually require more socialization than those

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<v Speaker 1>descended from a long line of captive born animals. State

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<v Speaker 1>and local laws also deserve your attention. Some places, such

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<v Speaker 1>as Hawaii, have put a ban on Bengal cat ownership.

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<v Speaker 1>Other areas will let you keep a pet bengal, but

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<v Speaker 1>only if the cat is several generations removed from any

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<v Speaker 1>wild ancestors. Today's episode was written by Mark Bancini and

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<v Speaker 1>produced by Tyler Clang, a brain Stuff Is production and

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<v Speaker 1>iHeart Radio's How Stuff works from More on that a

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<v Speaker 1>lots of other topics that aren't kittting around. Oh I'm

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<v Speaker 1>sorry about that one, visit our home planet how stuff

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<v Speaker 1>works dot com. And for more podcasts from my heart Radio,

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