Genetically Engineered Bengal Cat

Some people think that the Bengal cat is "genetically engineered" because they search for information about this subject. This cat breed is not genetically engineered on the standard definition of that phrase. "Genetic engineering" could be defined as "the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology".

Photo: Helmi Flick.

The Bengal cat is a simple hybrid. There are many breeds of cat that are hybrids. Most are domestic cat to domestic cat matings such as the Burmilla. These are breeds created by mating a cat of one breed with a cat of another breed. Cat breeds though are all one species of cat (the domestic cat - felis catus).

There are some wild cat to domestic cat matings that occur naturally. The wildcat hybrids such as the Bengal and Savannah (and Safari) are deliberate matings of wildcat with domestic cat, however. This though is not genetic engineering.