ALC white underbody pattern... the search, continued from previous page © by Marc King - all rights reserved, ALL IMAGES USED WITH PERMISSION   Whited Expression The results of other breeders who have worked with the ALC whited factor have shown that often the underbody colour will or can indeed be lightened by the presence of these genes in the genotype of the cat, i.e. when mating a true whited hot sorrel, for example, with a "light tummied" SBT, often the results were an even lighter underbody. The true ALC white is, however, a clean "T-shirt" white and not to be confused with light cream, beige, light tan, etc. Cats showing whited expressions have been very important in the extension of the breeding basis for the true whited underbody pattern.   Groundcolour influence With the lack of genetic research and authoritative opinions on this aspect, I am writing my assumptions based on the breeding results of numerous others. Here I have Carol Effinger (Sutera Bengals), Lisay Arvay (Rosetta Bengals), Jean Mill , Annette Trolle (Trollspotting Bengals) and others to thank for many patient hours of question/answers.   The groundcolours of our Bengals seem to have a distinct and pronounced influence on the visual clarity and extent of the whited factor. The highly glittered, red mahogany-brown to browned-orange (more richly-pigmented rufous spectrum) colours seem to possess higher concentrations of modifiers that darken or reduce the whited expression and, so far, the non-glittered wheaten, light gold, yellow-bronze groundcolours seem to have a more confined, stable pattern when in combination with the whited pattern, i.e. not migrating as far into the underbody pattern. This is not always the case, of course; the Phantom F2 and 3's mentioned earlier are a richly browned rufous with black pattern. There are, however, glittered beige, tan and lighter, cooler colours which have had true whited ALC underbody patterns. Glitter was inherited independently of colour; clean and pure white seemingly were not. Not at this stage.     Many ALC's are being used today in the creation of new lines, and most ALCs are not the best influence on colour and pattern in our already stunning breed, Bengals now having surpassed many ALC's in rosetted patterns. All ALC's I have ever seen or in pictures are drab beige, tan, geyish and ticked cool colours. There are very few ALC's which show a definitive "red" colour as seen in Dehli descendants. Even though it has been stated many times that ALCs from the tropical regions have brighter, orange and gold-yellow colours, there has yet to surface such an ALC in a Bengal programme. (Authour's opinion)   Most of the numerous richly-rufoused (mahogany red to ruddy Abyssinian) colours, whited-looking kittens purchased, viewed and/or researched for this article lost their whited underbody pattern by full sexual maturity. Some of these kittens kept the much lighter chin and spectacles like in the red Abyssinian ruddy colour pattern, giving the impression of the whited expression in the face only. The colour descriptor "rufous" is also difficult to nail down, but a simple explanation told to me sums it up well: rufous is like iodine - the thinner the application, the more yellow-bronze the colour, the thicker the application, the more mahogany red the colour becomes. It seems that the higher the concentration of red, the higher the concentration of underbody colour modifiers.   The best whited examples to date had the ground colours: wheaten, light brown, golden, bronze, sorrel, beige, tan, etc. - in other words, the lighter and "cooler" colours. It also seems, visually speaking, that the richly rufoused, "ruddy" Abyssinian colour, complete with its lighter to near-white chin, spectacles and evenly-reddish underbody, is the same genetic red as in many of our red-rufous Bengals. We know that the foundational Millwood Dehli was a richly rufoused, which contributed to both glitter and red in the breed today, but also that Abyssinians were employed in the first filial foundations. We do not know, however, what the genetic makeup for Dehli's red pigmentation was.   Snows Some snows seem to be whited due to their temperature-sensitive expression of the colour point genetics, the warmer areas lightening, the cooler areas darkening, with their underbodies being sometimes many degrees lighter than their overall body colour. This should not be confused, however, with the ALC whited underbody pattern described here. Many breeders told me in my search for whited cats or parents of kittens, that their snows were their only whiteds, so this aspect may be easily confused with the true whited ALC underbody pattern. I have found, interestingly enough, a concentration of whited expression patterns in BSTs in certain lines in a few American and European pedigrees (in particularly in the UK, Denmark and Holland) with Lynx, Mink and Sepia snows in their genotype. An excellent example of this is the breeding programme of Annette Trolle of Trollspotting in Denmark.   Selecting for the Whited Underbody Pattern In breeding and selecting for ALC whited patterns, the true test is to wait out full maturity of the cat that showed the right phenotype as a kitten, perhaps 1.5 - 2 years, before considering it " ALC whited". Then, one would breed only with such cats, but... due to the rapid pace at which many catteries change out breeding animals, perhaps this aspect will be one of the slowest to be developed in the Bengals of tomorrow. Most people don't want to tend to a cat for such a period of time before deciding its final place. As a plant breeder, I often wait out 4 - 6 years of evaluation before judging the results and deciding what to employ further in breeding.   Selecting kittens Many Bengal kittens seem to have whited underbodies because they are usually very light to white underneath, but this often changes rapidly at sexual maturity to the groundcolour of the upper body. It seems obvious that the modifiers "kick in" at certain stages of development, as is with the coat colours of Bengals, and what looks like ALC whited underbody pattern creams out or darkens. It has been a very frustrating experience in the search for the true whited expression to be proposed or even sold kittens as "true whited" when they were simply in the kitten coat with lighter underbody. The true test, as mentioned, is to wait out full maturity of the cat, at least 1.5 years (better 2 full years), to even describe it as "true whited". It would be more honest to describe the others as just "lighter" in the underbody pattern. Choosing a kitten from two, fully-mature whited parents is one's best bet.   As previously mentioned, white x white breedings are already slowly becoming a possibility, but not a 100% probability of true whited offspring. According to 2 experienced breeders, a few factors to look for when suspecting the presence of a true whited kitten is a bright pink, practically naked underbody at birth with black to dark spots. ( pictured at left: Casarocca Cadenza Inglese at 2 weeks, completely naked; below, Casarocca Tempesta Notturna at 8 weeks) An important rule of thumb is that the longer the kitten displays the near nakedness with brilliantly white "fuzz" slowly giving way to pure white fur, the better the chances are that the ALC whited factor is present! However, in one repeated mating I know of in which two true ALC whited parents were used, the kittens were born with dense, brilliantly-white fur on their underbodies.   Another breeder has had the experience that their true whited SBTs were all born with pink pawpads (darkening very shortly thereafter) and faces. Another interesting aspect of the ALC whited genotype being present in our SBT Bengals was described to me as the fact that the brilliant white fur, once wet, had an odd cool greyish (not brown or cream) tinge to it, i.e. the undercoat had an almost dull blue hue to it that became visible when wet. Once dry again, the white colour was the only hue visually perceivable. Of the cats that we own with the actual, true ALC whited underbodies, the white is brilliant, clean and just below the white there is this cool grey undercoat. Here, on the left, is a picture of our CASAROCCA LOREN QUEST at 10 months and still extensively whited. I feel that she will hourglass somewhat on the tummy, but should keep a large portion of her large ALC underbody pattern. To the left of LOREN QUEST is our SUTERA TATIANA girl, FOREVER YOURS. FOREVER YOURS, aka Luthien, remained completely naked underneath until 16 weeks!   VERY IMPORTANT - no SBT programme can claim to produce 100% ALC whited cats, so a kitten, even though brilliantly whited, may not develope the phenotype of its parents. The best thing to look for is: 1) the lack of background pigment around the head, t 2) he presence of black or dark brown in the pattern and 3) a completely white to nearly-naked underbody pattern. The kittens should still have this kind of phenotype at "selling age" of 10 - 14 weeks. If there is cream or brown in the whited area at this age, the cat will not become and Adult Whited.     Wish us luck - more than luck! My personal feeling is that the brilliant ALC whited underbody will be one of the additions to the Bengal of the future and it is exciting to have such a project to work on. Wish me luck! : ) I would also like to express my gratitude to Carol Effinger, Lisa Avray, Jean Mill and others for their assistance and patience. The ALC whited underbody and whited expression pattern was developed from an illustration of the Mackerel Tabby in The Book of the Cats, edited by Michael Wright & Sally Walters, pp 32-34.   HOME   C Marc & Denien King Valle Rebengo 14030 Rocchetta Tanaro (AT)   ( in Europe: 0039) + 0141 644668 (one must dial the "0" in 0141) outside of Europe: (your international CODE + 39) + 0141 644668 email: marcking@teknosurf.it. 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