Bagheera kiplingi Bagheera kiplingi Bagheera kiplingi is a species of jumping spider found in Central America, including Mexico, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. It is the type species of the genus "Bagheera", which includes three other species, including "B. prosper". "B. kiplingi" is notable for its peculiar diet, which is mostly herbivorous. No other known species of spider has such a thoroughly herbivorous diet. The genus name is derived from Bagheera, the black panther from Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book", with the species name honoring Kipling himself. Other salticid genera with names of Kipling's characters are "Akela", "Messua", and "Nagaina". All four were
The Jungle Book (1967 film) him to a mother wolf who has just had cubs. She raises him along with her own cubs and Mowgli soon becomes well acquainted with jungle life and plays with his wolf siblings. Ten years later, the wolf tribe learns that Shere Khan, a man-eating Bengal tiger, has returned to the jungle and realize that Mowgli must be taken to the "Man-Village" for his (and their) own safety. Bagheera volunteers to escort him back. They leave that very night, but Mowgli is determined to stay in the jungle. He and Bagheera rest in a tree for the night, where Kaa,