Old Baloo

by Mitch Shindelbower

Title

Old Baloo

Artist

Mitch Shindelbower

Medium

Photograph

Description

Old Baloo .. Black Bear..He is described in Kipling's work as "the sleepy brown bear".Robert Armitage Sterndale, from whom Kipling derived most of his knowledge of Indian fauna, used the Hindi word "Bhalu" for several bear species, though Daniel Karlin, who edited the Penguin reissue of The Jungle Book in 1987, states that, with the exception of colour, Kipling's descriptions of Baloo are consistent with the sloth bear, as brown bears and Asian black bears do not occur in the Seoni area where the novel takes place. Also, the name sloth can be used in the context of sleepiness. Karlin states, however, that Baloo's diet of "only roots and nuts and honey" is a trait more common to the Asian black bear than to the sloth bear. Nevertheless, this may be single observation only; according to the dietary habits of sloth bears, while sloth bears prefer termites and ants (which is also described as Baloo's special treat in The Jungle Book), their main sources of food are honey and fruits most of the year.In the 1967 Walt Disney's The Jungle Book, he's portrayed as a Sloth bear, meanwhile in the Russian version, he's portrayed as an Asian black bear. In the 1994 remake of The Jungle Book, Baloo is portrayed by a Cinnamon bear, while live-action television shows and movies often have Baloo portrayed by an American black bear. In the 2016 adaptation, Baloo is stated to be a sloth bear by Bagheera, though his appearance is similar to that of a Himalayan brown bear. Though this subspecies of the brown bear is absent from historical records on Seoni, it might have ranged across most of northern India.

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November 13th, 2020

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