Where did the Bengals get their name?

Brown named the team the Bengals in order "to give it a link with past professional football in Cincinnati." Another Bengals team existed in the city and played in a three previous American Football League from 1937 to 1942. The city's renowned zoo was also home to a rare white Bengal Tiger. However, possibly as an insult to Art MoDELL, Paul Brown chose the exact shade of orange used by his former team.