Of wolves and man - Feral children

[peter]

FERAL CHILDREN (Paul Sieveking)

Although this topic was raised by quite many people not to be taken lightly more than once in the past, it was and still is often disregarded. A pity, as very interesting. 

Most of us know a bit about feral children because of Kiplings'  great story ('Mowgli'), but there is a lot more and not all stories are old. Some are well documented and as true as it gets.

Feral children often were left behind on purpose as a result of circumstances or disease. A few were taken by wild animals. Most of those taken no doubt were consumed, but not all. It is known adult female predators at times nurse small animals or children at it apparently happens in both captive and wild animals.

Some feral children were captured. Many of them were unable to adapt. Those able to talk seemed to prefer animals over humans and some returned to the wild. Read the part on the boy who sheltered in the forests during World War Two. He never slept as sound as when he was with wolves.

This article has a nice overview of what is known and it isn´t wolves only. Goats, sheep, dogs, gazelles, monkeys, apes, birds, bears and at least one leopardess. One day, we´ll meet a feral child raised by a big cat. 

http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/232/wild_things_feral_children.html Reply