Bagheera Bagheera Bagheera (; "Baghīrā"/"Bagīdah") is a fictional character in Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli stories in the "Jungle Book" (coll. 1894) and the "Second Jungle Book" (coll. 1895). He is a black panther (melanistic Indian leopard) who serves as friend, protector and mentor to the "man-cub" Mowgli. The word "bagheera" is Hindi/Urdu for black panther-- although the root word bagh means tiger. Born in captivity in the menagerie of the Raja of Udaipur, Rajasthan, India, Bagheera begins to plan for his freedom after his mother dies. Once he is mature and strong enough, he breaks the lock on his cage and escapes
Akela (The Jungle Book) Akela (The Jungle Book) Akela ( / "Akelā" also called The Lone Wolf or Big Wolf) is a fictional character in Rudyard Kipling's stories, "The Jungle Book" and "The Second Jungle Book". He is the leader of the Seeonee pack of Indian wolves and presides over the pack's council meetings. It is at such a meeting that the pack adopts the lost child Mowgli and Akela becomes one of Mowgli's mentors. "Akelā" means "single or solitary" in Hindi and Urdu. Kipling also calls him the "Lone Wolf: Kipling portrays Akela with the character of an English gentleman. This is shown