Is the Bengal cat from Bangladesh!?

To those in the cat fancy the question in the title seems odd. Even stupid but there is a little bit of truth in it. I'll explain.

Some cat fancy afficionados might say that, of course the Bengal cat is not from Bangladesh. The Bengal cat is a wild cat hybrid created by an American Jean Mill in America in the 1960s to 1980s by crossing domestic cats with the Asiatic leopard cat (aka leopard cat). She was living in Yuma, Arizona at the time. The Bengal cat is therefore from America. 

It was actually quite a complicated and extensive process with a number of foundation cats as shown in the picture below.

Foundation cats for Bengal cat breed. Image: MikeB

It was created during a time when there was a keen interest in creating through selective breeding novel cat breeds including wild cat hybrids which are domestic cats with some wild cat DNA within them.

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The leopard cat is a small wild cat species about the size of a domestic cat and fiercely independent. Not actually that good a choice from which to create a wild cat hybrid to live with people as a pet. 

But the point is this, the leopard cat has a wide distribution in Asia including Bangladesh. 

We can say therefore that although the Bengal cat comes from America, within each individual Bengal cat is the DNA of the leopard cat to varying amounts depending on its filial (generation from the leopard cat).

And therefore, there is a connection to Bangladesh and the other Asian countries where this species is found.

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