Editing Baloo (section)

==Name and species==
He is described in Kipling's work as "the sleepy brown bear".<ref name=":0" /> [[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 bear|brown]] and [[Asian black bear]]s do not occur in the [[Seoni, Madhya Pradesh|Seoni]] area where the story 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 [[Sloth bear#Dietary habits|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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Laurie|first1=Andrew|last2=Seidensticker|first2=John|date=1977-06-01|title=Behavioural ecology of the Sloth bear (Melursus ursinus)|journal=Journal of Zoology|language=en|volume=182|issue=2|pages=187–204|doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.1977.tb04155.x|issn=1469-7998}}</ref> In the 1967 Walt Disney's ''[[The Jungle Book (1967 film)|The Jungle Book]]'', he's portrayed as a [[sloth bear]], while in the [[Adventures of Mowgli|Russian version]], he's portrayed as an [[Asian black bear]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/18/we-dont-wanna-be-like-you-how-soviet-russia-made-its-own-darker/|title=We don't wanna be like you: how Soviet Russia made its own, darker Jungle Book|last=Smith|first=Patrick|date=2016-04-25|work=The Telegraph|access-date=2018-03-26|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}</ref> In the 1994 remake of ''[[The Jungle Book (1994 film)|The Jungle Book]]'', Baloo is depicted as a [[cinnamon bear]],<ref name=":2" /> while live-action television shows and films often have Baloo as an [[American black bear]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> In the [[The Jungle Book (2016 film)|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.<ref>Boitani, L.; Cowling, R.M.; Dublin, H.T. (2008). "Change the IUCN Protected Area Categories to Reflect Biodiversity Outcomes". PLoS Biology 6 (3): 436–438. {{doi|10.1371/journal.pbio.0060066|doi-access=free}}.</ref>

Another possibility is that this character was named after Balochistan Bear, a sub-species of Asiatic black bear, which can be found around Baluchistan mountain range of Pakistan and India. Another strong supporting fact to this theory is that Balochistan bears love to eat bananas and other fruits. In several scenes of the ''Jungle Book'', Baloo is shown to be eating bananas and prickly pears.