Additional Pics & Video of Silver girl: Luna
Luna is an example of a tarnished Silver. We would classify her as a 4/10 tarnish level, meaning she has cinnamon brown dusting down his back, maybe a little inside some rosettes, and he has a brown mascara marking on the side of his face. Her pattern resembles her mother in that it is more "wild-type" with a combination of donut and paw-print rosettes. She is still in the fuzzy stage so her coat is blurred but will develop into a darker more contrasted sleeker design in the coming months. She is extremely playful, outgoing, and fearless. She would do very well adapting to any home environment.
**Special Note on Tarnish: All Bengals are essentially by default the traditional Brown color. The only way to change their color is by adding an extra color gene. This does not change their personality as they are still a Bengal just as a Lab can be Chocolate, Yellow, or Black color and yet they are all still Labs. Since there is no "Black and White" color gene...we use a gene that has been dubbed the "inhibitor" gene because that's what it does. This gene inhibits the Brown color. The only problem is this gene does not act like an "on or off" light switch...instead it acts like a dimmer. So it can inhibit too much and the result is a "faded" Silver, where the markings are much lighter. You can also not inhibit enough, and this results in some Brown left over. We call this left over Brown "tarnish" since that's the term used when Sterling Silverware turns brown. There can be varying degrees of tarnish...from just a little speckle down the back and on the cheeks to a lot dusted all over and even inside the rosettes. The Inhibitor gene can get stronger over time and work to remove tarnish, but that is not always the case. This tarnish can be more noticeable in warmer lights that bring out Brown and can be washed out more in bright daylight lights. We have used a combination of lighting to try and bring out the colors so that is why the same kitten can look more tarnish in some lighting/pics and less in others. This will be accurate to real life settings as lighting changes in the home.
**Special Note on Tarnish: All Bengals are essentially by default the traditional Brown color. The only way to change their color is by adding an extra color gene. This does not change their personality as they are still a Bengal just as a Lab can be Chocolate, Yellow, or Black color and yet they are all still Labs. Since there is no "Black and White" color gene...we use a gene that has been dubbed the "inhibitor" gene because that's what it does. This gene inhibits the Brown color. The only problem is this gene does not act like an "on or off" light switch...instead it acts like a dimmer. So it can inhibit too much and the result is a "faded" Silver, where the markings are much lighter. You can also not inhibit enough, and this results in some Brown left over. We call this left over Brown "tarnish" since that's the term used when Sterling Silverware turns brown. There can be varying degrees of tarnish...from just a little speckle down the back and on the cheeks to a lot dusted all over and even inside the rosettes. The Inhibitor gene can get stronger over time and work to remove tarnish, but that is not always the case. This tarnish can be more noticeable in warmer lights that bring out Brown and can be washed out more in bright daylight lights. We have used a combination of lighting to try and bring out the colors so that is why the same kitten can look more tarnish in some lighting/pics and less in others. This will be accurate to real life settings as lighting changes in the home.