In The Jungle Book, the snake is named Kaa.
Kaa is an Indian python who repeatedly targets Mowgli in Disney’s 1967 animated film. He first encounters the boy while Mowgli and Bagheera are resting in a tree, using hypnotic eyes to lull him into a deep sleep. Later, Kaa tries again, singing “Trust in Me” while attempting to conceal Mowgli from Shere Khan.
The character originated in Rudyard Kipling’s 1894 Mowgli stories, but Disney significantly changed his role. In Kipling’s books, Kaa is a powerful and generally helpful ally who assists Mowgli against the Bandar-log monkeys. Disney instead made him a comic yet dangerous secondary antagonist, partly because the studio believed audiences would be reluctant to sympathize with a snake.
Kaa is often confused with Shere Khan because both threaten Mowgli, but they are different species and characters. Shere Khan is the ruthless Bengal tiger pursuing Mowgli, while Kaa is the hypnotic python voiced by Sterling Holloway. Bagheera and Baloo, by contrast, are Mowgli’s protective companions.