There is no doubt that Bengals are an intelligent breed of cats. Bengals are famed for their curiosity, ability to learn, and overall mental sharpness.
But how intelligent is a Bengal cat relative to other cats?
In this short article, we cover the ins and outs of Bengal cat intelligence when compared to other breeds.
As a Bengal cat owner, you might be interested to know how your cat stacks up to other breeds. As a prospective owner, you might be interested to “do your homework” before getting a Bengal of your own.
Keep reading to discover how smart a Bengal is when compared to to other breeds of cat:
Cat Intelligence Is Difficult To Measure
When looking at the relative intelligence levels of domestic cats, it’s important to bear in mind that cat intelligence is actually rather tricky to measure.
It’s not like comparing dog breeds, where there are basically set ways of measuring working intelligence (train ability, obedience etc). In these types of tests it is always Labradors, German Shepherds, Border Collies etc that come out on top.
However, with cats there is no real ‘standardised’ testing in such a way.
Therefore, cat intelligence tends to be measured more from anecdotal observation than anything else.
Bengal Cats Are In The Upper Cohort
One thing that is for certain is that Bengal cats are definitely in the upper “cohort” of cat breeds when it comes to intelligence.
It’s almost impossible to find a list of the most intelligent cat breeds that doesn’t include the Bengal. Just jump on Google and search for “most intelligent cat breeds” and you will see exactly what we mean.
However, there is some bad news here. If you look at most of those lists they will generally not show Bengal cats in the #1 position. From what we can gather, the breed that most lists posit as being the most intelligent is the Abyssinian (although once again there are conflicting views on this as well).
Other breeds that “compete” with Bengals include, and regularly feature in lists of the most intelligent cats include:
* Siamese
* Burmese
* Scottish Fold
* Cornish Rex
Rather than seeking out ‘granular’ comparisons between these breeds, it’s more important to consider that basically all are intelligent, trainable and inquisitive. If you’re looking for an intelligent breed of cat, then you can’t go wrong with any of them.
Conclusion
To reiterate, it is clear that Bengal cats are definitely on the higher end of the “average intelligence spectrum” versus other breeds of cats.
They are probably not the smartest breed overall, but sit quite high up the pecking order.
It’s harder to measure cat intelligence than dog intelligence (where some breeds are clearly more intelligent than others in terms of working intelligence).
However, as we outlined above, Bengals routinely feature in lists of the most intelligent breeds along with cats like Abyssinians, Siamese, Burmese etc.
Exactly how intelligent a Bengal cat is relative to other cats is very tricky to measure, but there is no doubt that Bengals are highly intelligent!
One final thing to note – there are also big variations in intelligence within specific breeds. Just like some humans are smarter than others, some cats are smarter than others – so don’t spend too much time stressing about the specific intelligence of your cat!
