Rudyard Kipling's story collections The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book contain a colourful array of both human and talking animal characters. The most important of these are:
Mowgli's adventures
- Mowgli (feral child)
- Jungle characters
- Akela (wolf), "alone" in Hindi
- Raksha (wolf), "demon" in Hindi
- Rama (wolf)
- Baloo (bear); bhaalu is "bear" in Hindi
- Bagheera (black panther); from vyaaghra in Sanskrit or Hindi meaning "tiger"
- Kaa (python)
- Hathi (elephant); meaning "elephant" in Hindi
- Tabaqui (jackal)
- Mang (bat)
- Shere Khan (tiger); sher is "tiger" in Hindi
- The Bandar-log (monkeys); bandar log means "monkey folks" in Hindi
- Rama (water buffalo)
- Rann (kite)
- Chil (kite)
- Chuchundra {muskrat}
- Sahi (in later editions called Ikki) (porcupine)
- Grey Brother (wolf)
- Fao (wolf)
- Faona (wolf)
- The Dholes
- Human characters
Other stories
- Rikki Tikki Tavi
- Rikki Tikki Tavi (mongoose)
- Nag and Nagaina (cobras)
- Darzee (tailorbird )