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 1989, 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.
what kind of bear is baloo in the jungle book
He is described in Kipling 's work as "the sleepy brown bear ''. Robert Armitage Sterndale