According to Mother Wolf, Shere Khan has a bad paw because he was born that way. He is sometimes called Lungri or "the Lame One."

The bad paw causes problems in the jungle. Because of it, Shere Khan only hunts cattle. This makes the humans angry, which causes trouble for all the animals. One of the Laws of the Jungle is not to hunt humans, because they will retaliate. The humans also retaliate for lost cattle. For example, we are told that the villagers in Waingunga will "scour" the jungle for Shere Khan and light the grasses on fire, causing the other animals to have to flee.

Shere Khan is a misfit tiger who acts a general antagonist to the other animals—he is too powerful to be ignored, but at the same time, as Father Wolf says, he is a "fool." For example, he burns his paws when he leaps at a woodcutter's campfire. When he drops his "quarry," a little human boy, Mowgli, the wolves are able to save the child. However, this makes Shere Khan very angry, so Mowgli has to be extra cautious so that Shere Khan does not have a chance to kill him. Mother Wolf tells Mowgli he will have to kill Shere Khan when he gets older.