Baloo is one of the primary characters from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, and its various adaptations. Kipling’s story introduces a much stricter, wiser Baloo who acts as the "Teacher of the Law" for the wolf cubs, while the Disney version re-imagines him as a fun-loving, easygoing, and lazy sloth bear voiced by Phil Harris. Serving as a primary mentor, protector, and father figure to the "man-cub" Mowgli, Baloo teaches him (alongside Bagheera) the ways of survival in the jungle, particularly against the fearsome tiger Shere Khan.
Depending on the adaptation, Baloo shifts species. He is a sloth bear in Disney's animated works, an Asian black bear in the Russian animated series, and a massive Himalayan brown bear in Disney's 2016 live-action remake.
