21 days
old
At 21 days of age
you can see that the
kitten has started entering into the "fuzzy"
stages. Her pattern
components are clearly seperating from one
another with a greater
amount of ground color showing. The medial
canthus has opened and
seperated which is a leading point for me in the
selection of a marble
in my breeding program. The lateral canthus of
the pattern is barely
touching. The black pigment expression has
already started to change at
21 days and the center of the pattern components
are rapidly dropping
out thier centers creating a 3rd color. The
black borders around these
components are starting to be interrupted as
the the pattern
develops. Here at Roman Bengals, I would like to
NOT
see so much of the pattern dropping out already
at this age. My belief
is that if the pattern drops out too quickly you
will lose your third
color and black expression. These are two very
important expressions
that we want to preserve and maintain in
our marble program.
6 weeks of age
Immense changes have taken place from 3 weeks to 6
weeks as you can
see. She is in the full "fuzzy" stage at this point.
Black expression
has changed completely on the main body while the
leg markings have
retained most if not all of thier black
pigmentation. Notice the island
rosettes on her back legs and how much darker the
borders are compared
to the center body pattern. The pattern components
have distanced
themselves even further from one another giving a
much more balance and
contrast to the overall pattern. If you notice in
the markings on the
mid-body you can see that the centers have "fallen
out" alot. The
borders around each component has been infiltrated
by the center third
color instead of maintaining a nice thick, black
border except for the
back leg island rosettes. The borders have not been
infiltrated by the
center color. Note the space at the medial canthus
continues to open
breaking up the dreaded bullseye or eye. In this
picture also you can
see that the lateral canthus is still just barely
touching the other
components.
9 weeks of age
Between 6 and 9 weeks the pattern components
continue to "drift" away
from eachother allowing more ground color or acreage
to be present.
Note that now the lateral canthus has disconnected
from the iris
component. It's very obvious now how much of
the black
pigmentation has diluted leaving a rust color in
it's place. The
pattern is still in possession of it's distinct
borders though you can
see that the contrast is much less than before and
the borders and
center color are starting to blend into eachother in
some pattern
components. Notice here that the black expression is
still present on
the lower extremeties of the leg markings as well as
on the tail. Their
is also a clear gradiation of black expression from
the center of the
body to the extremeties. Black expression is
something that has
been quite difficult to retain in many marbles. My
theory is the more
black, the longer it stays, the less you'll lose
conterast as the
bengal matures. I am looking for the black hairs to
be selfed, which
means that they are entirely black from tip to skin
rather than just
black tipped hairs.
20 weeks
of age
You can really start to see the clear gradient in
black pigmentation in
this large jump between 9 weeks and 20 weeks.
The rosetted
islands are still showing very nice black borders
without any loss of
contrast with the tricoloration from the centers.
The clear gold ground
color taken on a slightly darker wheaten color and
is showing excellent
contrast overall. Her previous black borders on some
pattern components
have continued to become more dilute.
Marmorina is a gorgeous
marble as you can see even though her pigmentation
has changed more
than I would have liked to have seen. Notice her
beautiful whited
underbody with the black leg markings. Beautiful!
6 months of age
While at 6 months Marmorina is far from finishing to
develop we can
safely say that she's a stunner! Further dilution of
black pigmentation
across her pattern is clearly visible in this photo.
Front leg markings
up to the chest still show clear black expression.
Tail and back legs
as well. Note as you move up her back thigh towards
the iris of
her pattern it goes from black to increasingly
lighter shades in the
borders. The rosetted islands on her back leg still
sport full black
expression in the borders with the beautiful centers
adding contrast
and drama. Her centers of the pattern components
have fallen out all
over and continue to maintain a tri color patterning
we desire in the
marbles. The borders, even those that have become
diluted are
still clearly distinguishable throughout. On
her rib and upper
eyelid pattern component toward the medial canthus
they have lost some
of thier definition and borders though nothing
tragic. Overall I
am very happy with how Marmorina has
developed. Her development
has given me alot to think about and given me focal
points in which I
need to address in my breeding program to attain my
breeding goals.
See
Our Future
Planned Breedings Here
