What type of panther is this fictional character in Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli stories in the "Jungle Book" that along with Baloo save Mowgli from Shere Khan?
Bagheera Bagheera (Hindi: बघीरा ; Urdu: بگیڑہ‎ "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.
Mowgli Mowgli is a fictional character and the protagonist of Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" stories. He is a naked feral child from the Pench area in Seoni, India, who originally appeared in Kipling's short story "In the Rukh" (collected in "Many Inventions", 1893) and then went on to become the most prominent and memorable character in his collections "The Jungle Book" and "The Second Jungle Book" (1894–1895), which also featured stories about other characters.