The most famous wild children. Monkey baby from Uganda
In childhood, we all watched a cartoon about a little boy Mowgli, who was raised by a wolf pack. And then it seemed to all of us that this was just a fictional story and that this does not happen in life.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. There are several shocking facts that prove that modern Mowgli can exist in real life. The following 12 facts might just shock you! Do not miss!
1. Madina, Russia, 2013
Another shocking fact is the story of a girl who will amaze you even more! It is known that until the age of 3, the real modern Mugli Madina lived only with dogs, ate the food they got, slept and basked about them when she was cold. The girl's mother was drunk for most of the day, and her father left the family even before her birth. Eyewitnesses say that while my mother had alcoholic guests, Madina ran with the dogs on all fours on the floor and pulled bones. If Madina ran out to the playground, then she did not play, but simply attacked the children, because she could not communicate in any other way. At the same time, doctors give an optimistic forecast for the girl's future, assuring that she only needs adaptation and training.
2. Oksana Malaya, Ukraine, 1991
Oksana Malaya from Ukraine also got into the list of shocking facts about modern Mowgli. This girl was found in a kennel at the age of 8, of which exactly 6 she lived with four-legged. It is known that alcoholic parents threw Oksana out of the house, and the search for warmth and the desire to survive brought her to the doghouse. When the girl was found, she behaved more like a dog than a child - she ran on all fours with her tongue out, barked and bared her teeth. Intensive therapy helped Oksana learn minimal social skills, but her development stopped at the level of a 5-year-old child. Now Oksana Malaya is already 32 years old, she lives in Odessa on a farm under the careful supervision and care.
3. Boy-bird from Russia, 2008
The story of the modern Mowgli Van Yudin from Volgograd has recently stirred up all the media. It turned out that a boy under 7 years old was locked by his mother in a room, the only furniture in which were cages with birds! And, despite the fact that Vanya was not subjected to violence, and his mother fed him regularly, he was deprived of the most important thing - communication! The boy filled this gap with the help of his roommates ... And as a result, Vanya did not learn to speak, but only chirped like a bird and flapped his wings. Now the bird-boy is in the center of psychological rehabilitation.
4. Ivan Mishukov, Russia, 1998
At the age of 4, after suffering domestic violence, Vanya ran away from home. In order to survive, the boy was forced to wander and beg. Soon enough, a pack of dogs took him as one of their own. Vanya ate, slept and played with them. And even more - the dogs "appointed" the boy as their leader! For almost two years Vanya lived a homeless life with four-legged ones, until he got to an orphanage. Today, this modern Mowgli has completely gone through social adaptation and lives a full life.
5. Janie, USA, 1970
Among the shocking facts about modern Mowgli, there is another story about the girl Janie. She was unlucky right after birth. The father decided that she was lagging behind in development and isolated from society. Janie spent most of her childhood alone, sitting on a potty chair in a small room at home. She even slept on this chair! At the age of 13, the girl ended up with her mother in a social service, where workers suspected oddities in her behavior. And it is not surprising, because Janie could not utter a single articulate sound, and also constantly scratched herself and spat. This case turned out to be tempting for many specialists. Janie immediately became a subject for research and experimentation. After a while, she learned a few words, although it was not possible to collect them into sentences. The biggest achievements were reading short texts and minimal social skills. After a little adaptation, Janie lived a little more with her mother and in other foster families, where she went through humiliation and even violence! After the funding of the doctors stopped, the girl's development regressed again and complete silence. For some time, her name was completely forgotten, until a private detective found out that she lives in an institution for mentally retarded adults.
6. Sujit Kumar or Chicken Boy, Fiji, 1978
This kid was locked up in a chicken coop as punishment for bad behavior. This is a truly shocking fact. Well, after the mother shortened her life, and her father was killed, his own grandfather took up the upbringing. However, his methods also cannot be called innovative, because instead of taking care of his grandson, he preferred to close him with chickens and roosters. Rescued from the chicken coop Sujit at the age of 8 years. It is known that the boy could only cluck and clap. He pecked at the food, and he slept like a bird - sitting and tucking his leg. The workers of the nursing home took him to their rehabilitation for some time, but there the boy behaved very aggressively, for which he was tied to the bed with a sheet for more than 20 years! Now an adult man is looked after by Elizabeth Clayton, who discovered him in childhood in a chicken coop.
7. Kamala and Amala, India, 1920
Another shocking fact is that 8-year-old Amala and one and a half-year-old Kamala were discovered in a wolf's den by Pastor Joseph Singh in 1920. He was able to pick up the girls only when the wolves left the house. But his act did not turn out to be good luck. The captured girls were not ready for life with people, the joints of their arms and legs were deformed from life on all fours, and they preferred to eat only fresh! But amazingly, their hearing, sight and smell were absolute! It is known that Amala died a year after they were found, and Kamala even learned to walk upright and speak a few words, but at the age of 17 she died of kidney failure. Here is such a sad story about two modern Mowgli.
8.John Ssebunya or the monkey boy, Uganda, 1991
After seeing his own father killing his mother, three-year-old John Ssebunya ran away from home. He found his shelter in the jungle with the monkeys. It was from these animals that he learned survival techniques. His diet consisted of roots, sweet potatoes, nuts and cassava. After people found the boy, he was treated for a long time for worms and calluses on his knees. But, besides the fact that John quickly learned to speak, he was found to have another talent - a wonderful voice! Now the monkey boy is a real celebrity, and he can often be seen on tour even in the UK as part of the Pearls of Africa children's choir!
9. Marina Chapman, Columbia, 1959
At the age of 5, Marina was kidnapped from her native village in South America and abandoned by her kidnappers in the jungle. All this time, the Mowgli girl lived among the Capuchin monkeys until she was found by the hunters. She ate everything that animals got - roots, berries, bananas. She slept in the hollows of trees, walked on all fours and did not know how to speak at all. But after the rescue, the girl's life did not improve - she was sold to a brothel, and then turned out to be a servant in the mafia family, from where she was rescued by a neighbor. Despite the fact that he had five children of his own, a kind man took in a girl, and upon reaching adulthood in 1977 he helped Marina find a job as a housekeeper in Great Britain. It was there that the girl decided to arrange her life, got married and even gave birth to children. Well, with her youngest daughter Vanessa, Marina also wrote an autobiographical book "Girl with no name"! Here is such an incredible and shocking fact!
10. Savage from Champagne, France, 1731
Marie Angelique Mammie Le Blanc, despite her age, is well-known and documented! It is known that for more than 10 years Marie wandered through the forests of France alone. Armed with a club, the girl herself defended herself from wild animals, ate fish, birds and frogs. When Marie was caught at the age of 19, her skin was already completely dark, her hair was only matted with tow, and her fingers were curled up. The girl was always ready to attack, looked around her and even drank water on all fours from the river. She did not know human speech and communicated with the help of howling and growling. It is known that she could not get used to ready-made food either, preferring to get and eat raw animals on her own! In 1737, rather for the sake of hunting fun, the girl was sheltered by the Queen of Poland. Since that time, rehabilitation among people has borne the first fruits - the girl learned to speak, read and even attracted her first fans. The Savage from Champagne lived to be 63 years old, and died in 1775 in Paris.
11. Leopard Boy, India, 1912
At the age of 2, this baby was dragged into the thicket of the forest by a female leopard. After 3 years, the hunter, having killed the predator, found her cubs and a five-year-old boy in the den! Then the baby was returned to his own family. It is known that for a long time the boy ran on all fours, biting and growling. And he bent his fingers out of habit at right angles, for comfortable climbing in trees. And despite the fact that the adaptation returned him to his "human" appearance, the leopard boy did not live long, dying from an eye disease (this was not related to his childhood adventures!)
12. Wolf Girl, Mexico, 1845/1852
And this little girl is a real modern Mowgli, raised by wolves and did not allow herself to be tamed! It is known that several times she was seen standing on all fours, in a pack of wolves attacking goats and sucking milk from a she-wolf.
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More than 150 years ago, Sir Francis Galton coined the phrase "nature versus nurture." At that time, the scientist investigated what more affects the psychological development of a person - whether his heredity or the environment in which he is located. It was about behavior, habits, intelligence, personality, sexuality, aggression, and so on.
Those who believe in upbringing believe that people become so precisely because of everything that happens directly around them, the way they are taught. Opponents, however, argue that we are all children of nature and act in accordance with the genetic predisposition inherent in us and the animal instinct (according to Freud).
What do you think about this? Are we a product of our environment, genes, or both? In this difficult discussion, wild children are an important aspect. The term "wild children" is understood as a young man who was abandoned or found himself in a situation where he was deprived of any kind of interaction with civilization.
As a result, such children usually find themselves among animals. They often lack social skills, even such a simple skill as speaking, they do not always acquire. Wild children learn from what they see around them, but the conditions, like the paths of cognition, differ markedly from normal conditions.
History knows several rather revealing stories of "wild children". And these cases are much more complex and interesting than the classic story of Mowgli. These are quite real people who can already be called by their names, and not by nicknames given by the sensational media.
Bello from Nigeria. This boy was nicknamed the Nigerian chimpanzee boy in the press. He was found in 1996 in the jungle of this country. No one can say with certainty the age of Bello, it is assumed that at the time of the discovery he was about 2 years old. The boy found in the forest was physically and mentally handicapped. This is due to the abandonment of his parents at the age of six months. This practice is very common in the Fulani tribe. At such a young age, the boy, of course, could not stand up for himself. But some chimpanzees who lived in the forest took him into their tribe. As a result, the boy adopted many of the behavioral traits of the monkeys, in particular their walking. When Bello was found in Falgore Forest, the discovery was not widely reported. But in 2002, a popular newspaper found a boy in a boarding school for abandoned children in Kano, South Africa. The news about Bello quickly became sensational. He himself often fought with other children, threw objects, and jumped and ran at night. Six years later, the boy had already become much calmer, although he retained many of the chimpanzee demeanors. As a result, Bello was never able to learn to speak, despite constant communication with other children and people in his home. In 2005, the boy died altogether for unknown reasons.
Vanya Yudin. One of the more recent cases of a wild child was Vanya Yudin. News agencies nicknamed him "Russian Bird Boy". When social workers in Volgograd found him in 2008, he was 6 years old and could not speak. The child's mother abandoned him. The boy practically could not do anything, he just chirped and folded his arms like wings. He learned this from his parrot friends. Although Vanya did not suffer physically, he was not capable of human contact. His demeanors became birdlike, he expressed emotions by waving his hands. Vanya spent a long time in a two-room apartment, in which dozens of his mother's birds were kept in cages. One of the social workers who discovered Vanya, Galina Volskaya, said that the boy lived with his mother, but she never spoke to him, treating him like another feathered pet. When people tried to talk to Vanya, he only chirped in response. Now the boy has been transferred to a psychological aid center, where, with the help of specialists, they are trying to return him to normal life. The lack of human relationships led the child to another world.
Dean Sanichar. One of the best-known oldest cases of a wild child is Dina, nicknamed "The Indian Wolf Boy". When hunters found him in 1867, the boy was supposedly 6 years old. People noticed a pack of wolves entering the cave, and with it a man running on four legs. The men smoked the wolves out of the shelter, entering there, they found Dean. The boy was found in the jungle of Bulandshahr, and an attempt was made to treat him. True, at that time there were simply no effective means and techniques. Nevertheless, people tried to communicate with him in order to rid Dean of his animal demeanor. After all, he ate raw meat, tore off his clothes and ate from the ground. And not from the dishes. After some time, Dean was taught to eat cooked meat, but he never learned to speak.
Rochom Piengeng. When this girl was 8 years old, she and her sister herded a buffalo in the Cambodian jungle and got lost. The parents had already completely abandoned the hope of seeing their daughters. 18 years later, on January 23, 2007, a naked girl emerged from the jungle in Ratanakiri province. She secretly stole food from one of the peasants. He, discovering the loss, went on a hunt for a thief and found a wild man in the forest. The police were immediately called. One of the families in the village recognized the girl as her missing daughter, Rochom Piengeng. After all, there was a distinctive scar on her back. But the girl's sister was never found. She herself miraculously managed to survive in the dense jungle. After getting to the people with Roch, they worked hard to try to return them back to normal living conditions. Soon she was able to pronounce some words: "mother", "father", "abdominal pain". The psychologist said that the girl tried to say other words, however, it was impossible to understand them. When Rochom was hungry, she just pointed at her mouth. The girl crawled on the ground more often, refusing to wear clothes. As a result, she was never able to adapt to human culture, escaping back to the forest in May 2010. Since then, nothing is known about the whereabouts of the wild girl. At times, conflicting rumors emerge. They say, for example, that she was seen in the cesspool of one of the village toilets.
Traian Kaldarar. This famous case of a wild child also happened recently. Trajan, found in 2002, is often called the Romanian boy-dog or "Mowgli" after the literary character. He lived apart from his family for 3 years, starting at the age of 4. When Trajan was found at the age of 7, he looked 3 years old. This is due to extremely poor nutrition. Trajan's mother fell victim to a series of violence from her husband. It is believed that the child could not stand such an atmosphere and ran away from home. Trajan lived in the wild until he was found near the Romanian Brasov. The boy found his shelter in a large cardboard box, covered with leaves on top. When doctors examined Trajan, he was diagnosed with a severe case of rickets, infection of wounds and poor circulation. Those who found the boy believe that stray dogs helped him survive. Found it by accident. The shepherd Ioan Manolescu's car broke down and he had to walk through the pastures. It was there that the man found the boy. The remains of a dog were found nearby. It is assumed that Trajan ate it to stay alive. When the wild boy was taken into care, he refused to sleep on the bed, climbing under it. Trajan was also constantly hungry. When he was hungry, he became extremely irritable. After eating, the boy went to bed almost immediately. In 2007, it was reported that Troyan adapted well under the supervision of his grandfather and even studied in the 3rd grade of the school. When the boy was asked about his educational institution, he said: "I like it here - there are coloring books, games, you can learn to read and write. The school has toys, cars, teddy bears and the food is very good."
John Ssebunya. This man was nicknamed "Ugandan Monkey Boy". He ran away from home at the age of three when he witnessed the murder of his mother by his own father. Impressed by what he saw, John fled to the Ugandan jungle, where he is believed to have come under the care of African green monkeys. At that time, the boy was only 3 years old. In 1991, John was seen hiding in a tree by a woman named Millie, his tribesman. After that, she called for help from other villagers. As in other similar cases, John resisted his capture in every possible way. In this he was helped by the monkeys, who began to throw sticks at people, protecting their "fellow tribesman". Nevertheless, John was caught and taken to the village. They washed him there, but his whole body was covered with hair. This disease is called hypertrichosis. It manifests itself in the presence of excessive hairiness in those parts of the body where there is no usual such cover. Living in the wild, John also contracted intestinal worms. Some of them are said to have been nearly half a meter in length when removed from his body. The foundling was full of injuries, mostly from trying to walk like a monkey. John was transferred to Molly and Paul Waswa to their orphanage. The couple even taught the boy to speak, although many argue that he already knew how to do this before running away from home. John was also taught to sing. Today he tours with the Pearls of Africa children's choir and has practically gotten rid of his animal behavior.
Kamala and Amala. The story of these two Indian young girls is one of the most famous cases of wild children. When in 1920 they were found in the lair of wolves in the Indian Midnapor, Kamala was 8 years old, and Amala was 1.5 years old. The girls spent most of their lives outside of people. Despite the fact that they were found together, researchers question the fact that they were sisters. After all, they had a rather large age difference. It's just that they were left in about the same place at different times. The girls were discovered after mystical stories spread throughout the village about the figures of two ghostly spirits, who were led along with wolves from the jungle of Bengal. The locals were so afraid of the spirits that they called the priest to find out the whole truth. The Reverend Joseph hid in a tree above the cave and waited for the wolves. When they left, he looked into their lair and saw two hunched over people. He wrote down everything he saw. The priest described the children as "disgusting from head to toe." The girls ran on all fours and had no signs of being human. Eventually, Joseph took the wild children with him, although he had no experience in adapting them. The girls slept together, curled up in a ball, tore off their clothes, ate nothing but raw meat, and howled. Their habits were reminiscent of animals. They opened their mouths, sticking out their tongues like wolves. Physically, the children were deformed - the tendons and joints on the hands became shorter, making it impossible to walk upright. Kamala and Amala had no interest in communicating with people. Some of their senses are said to have worked flawlessly. This applies not only to hearing and vision, but also to a sharp sense of smell. Like most Mowgli children, this couple in every possible way sought to return to their former life, surrounded by people feeling unhappy. Soon Amala died, this event caused deep mourning for her friend, Kamala even cried for the first time. The Reverend Joseph thought that she, too, was going to die and began to work hard on her. As a result, Kamala barely learned to walk upright and even learned a few words. In 1929, this girl also died, this time due to kidney failure.
Victor from Aveiron. The name of this Mowgli boy will seem familiar to many. The fact is that his story formed the basis of the film "Wild Child". Some say that it was Victor who became the first documented case of autism, in any case, this is the well-known story of a child left alone with nature. In 1797, several people saw Victor wandering in the forests of Saint Sernin sur Rance in southern France. The wild boy was caught, but he soon ran away. In 1798 and 1799 he was seen again, but finally caught on January 8, 1800. At that time, Victor was about 12 years old, his entire body was covered with scars. The boy could not utter a word, even his origin remained a mystery. Victor ended up in the city, where philosophers and scientists showed great interest in him. The news about the found wild man quickly spread throughout the country, many wanted to study him, looking for answers to questions about the origin of language and human behavior. Biology professor, Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre, decided to observe Victor's reaction by taking off his clothes and laying him outside in the snow. The boy began to run in the snow without showing any negative effects of the low temperatures on his bare skin. They say that they lived naked in the wild for 7 years. Unsurprisingly, his body was able to withstand such extreme weather conditions. The famous teacher Roche-Ambroise Auguste Bebian, who worked with the deaf and sign language, decided to try to teach the boy to communicate. But soon the teacher became disillusioned with his student due to the lack of any signs of progress. After all, Victor, being born with the ability to speak and hear, never did it right after he was left to live in the wild. Delays in mental development did not allow Victor to start leading a fulfilling life. Subsequently, the wild boy was taken to the National Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, where he died at the age of 40.
Oksana Malaya. This story happened in 1991 in Ukraine. Oksana Malaya was left by her bad parents in a kennel, where she grew up from 3 to 8 years old, surrounded by other dogs. The girl went wild, she was kept in the backyard of the house all this time. She adopted the common features of the behavior of dogs - barking, growling, moving on all fours. Oksana sniffed her food before eating it. When the authorities came to her aid, other dogs barked and growled at people, trying to protect their fellow tribesman. The girl behaved similarly. Due to the fact that she was deprived of communication with people, in Oksana's dictionary there were only two words "yes" and "no". The Wild Child has undergone intensive care to help him acquire the necessary social and verbal skills. Oksana was able to learn to speak, although psychologists say that she has big problems in trying to express herself and communicate emotionally, and not with speech. Today the girl is already twenty years old, she lives in one of the clinics in Odessa. Oksana spends most of her time with cows on the farm of her boarding school. But according to her own words, she feels best when she is near the dogs.
Gin. If you are professionally engaged in psychology or studying the issue of wild children, then the name Jean will certainly pop up. At the age of 13, she was locked in a room with a pot tied to a chair. On another occasion, her father tied her up in a sleeping bag and laid her like that in the crib. Her father abused his power extremely - if the girl tried to speak, he beat her with a stick to keep her quiet, he barked and growled at her. The man also forbade his wife and children to talk to her. Because of this, Jin had a very small vocabulary, which was only about 20 words. So, she knew the phrases "Stop", "No more." Gene was discovered in 1970 and is one of the worst cases of social exclusion known to date. At first she was thought to have autism, until doctors discovered that the 13-year-old girl was a victim of violence. Jean was admitted to the Los Angeles Children's Hospital, where she was treated for many years. After several courses, she was already able to answer monosyllables to questions, learned how to dress independently. Nonetheless, she still adhered to the behaviors she had learned, including the "walking bunny" manner. The girl constantly held her hands in front of her, as if they were her paws. Jean continued to scratch, leaving deep marks on things. In the end, Jean was sheltered by her therapist David Riegler. He worked with her every day for 4 years. As a result, the doctor and his family were able to teach the girl sign language, the ability to express herself not only in words, but also in drawings. When Jean left the therapist, she went to live with her mother. Soon the girl got to the new adoptive parent. And with them she was unlucky, they again made Jean become dumb, she became afraid to speak. Now the girl lives somewhere in Southern California.
Madina. The tragic story of this girl is in many ways similar to the story of Oksana Malaya. Madina grew up with dogs without any communication with people. It was in this state that experts found her. At that time, the girl was only 3 years old. When found, she preferred to bark like a dog, although she could say yes and no. Fortunately, the doctors who examined the girl declared her physically and mentally healthy. As a result, despite some developmental delay, there is hope for a return to a normal lifestyle. After all, Madina is at such an age when it is still possible, with the help of doctors and psychologists, to return to the usual path of development.
Lobo. This child was also nicknamed "the wolf girl from the Devil's River." The mysterious creature was first discovered in 1845. Among the wolves, a girl ran on all fours, attacking with the predators a herd of goats near the Mexican San Felipe. A year later, the information about the wild child was confirmed - the girl was seen greedily eating a raw killed goat. The villagers were alarmed by such a neighborhood with an unusual person. They began searching for the girl, soon catching her. The wild child was named Lobo. She constantly howled wolfish at night, as if calling on packs of gray predators to save herself. As a result, the girl escaped from captivity and fled. The next time a wild child was seen 8 years later. She was by the river with two wolf cubs. Frightened by the people, Lobo grabbed the puppies and ran away. Since then, no one has met her.
Wild Peter. Not far from German Hameln in 1724, people discovered a hairy boy. He moved exclusively on all fours. They were able to catch a wild man only with the help of deception. He could not speak, and ate exclusively raw food - poultry and vegetables. The boy, after his transportation in England, was nicknamed Wild Peter. He never learned to speak, but he became capable of performing the simplest work. It is said that Peter was able to live to a ripe old age.
Many believe that the story of Indian wolf boy Dean Sanichar inspired Rudyard Kipling to write his most famous and beloved by millions of readers, The Jungle Book.
Like Mowgli, Dean was a wild boy raised by wolves, although his life was very different from that of a fictional character. Book Mowgli surprised readers with his upbringing. After visiting the Indian forest, he was adopted by animals that fed, protected and protected him. Dean was also raised by wolves, but this real-life boy's life was not so fabulous.
Born in India, who lived there until he was 6 years old, and then moved to England with his parents, the young writer Rudyard returned to his small homeland a decade later. His famous "The Jungle Book" was published in 1895.
It turns out that Mowgli's story was born two decades after Dean Sanichar was caught by Indian hunters in a pack of wolves. But unlike the clever book hero, Dean was mentally handicapped despite years of reintegration into human society.
Dean was not the only boy whose unusual life was embodied in the book's story. But it was his life story that had a direct impact on one of the most famous British writers.
The hunters kidnapped him and killed the companion wolf.
The hunters stumbled upon Dean in the jungle by chance and witnessed him walking on all fours after his wolf friend. Curiosity got the better of them, and they began a whole hunt for the boy to catch him.
They made numerous attempts to lure the wild child and separate him from the wolf, but they failed to separate them. The hunters killed the wolf at the first opportunity. Everything happened right in front of the boy's eyes.
He was labeled as mentally retarded as soon as he got into the orphanage.
The hunters brought Dean to the orphanage, where the missionaries baptized him and gave him the name Sanichar, which means Saturday in Urdu, because it was on that day of the week that he entered the orphanage. At that time, Father Erhardt was in charge of the mission, and tried to get to know and understand the boy better.
Dean had a difficult time adapting to his new life, because everyone considered him mentally retarded. However, he demonstrated the ability to reason and at times strove to complete certain tasks.
He never learned to speak or write.
Children learn to speak during the first two years of their lives. Some children pronounce "mom" or "dad" as early as six months and after a couple of years they begin to communicate calmly in sentences. These milestones coincide with the child's mental, emotional and behavioral development.
However, Dean never speaks. Despite numerous attempts by those around him to teach him to speak, the wolf boy never learned the human language and did not learn to write. He communicated all his life, making the sounds of an animal.
The boy quickly learned to smoke
The kid was disgusted with clothes and refused to talk, but he liked to walk not on all fours, but on his feet, although this was not easy for him. Very soon he adopted the addiction from adults and became addicted to smoking. Perhaps this was the cause of tuberculosis, which killed him later.
He liked to eat raw meat more and sharpen his teeth on bones.
Most babies begin to grow teeth between the ages of four and seven months and have a full set of teeth by the age of three. Most likely, at first, it was very difficult for Dean to eat without teeth in a pack of wolves, because wolves are carnivores and eat mostly raw game.
But over time, he seemed to get used only to the food that the flock ate. When he first appeared at the shelter, the boy flatly refused to eat cooked food. But he eagerly pounced on the raw pieces of meat and gnawed at the bones with a snarl.
He hated walking around dressed
Immediately after the delivery of the boy from the jungle, people tried to instill in him social skills and forced him to dress. Having learned to walk like a human being, he forced himself to put on trousers and a shirt for almost twenty years.
In addition to him, a wolf boy from Krondstadt was later brought to the orphanage, who shared Dean's reluctance to dress. They both enjoyed running naked in the jungle.
He managed to make friends with only one orphan - the same wild child
Dean spent most of his childhood with animals and it was quite difficult for him to get used to people. But despite this, he immediately managed to find a common language with another wild child who lived in the same orphanage.
The father-abbot of the orphanage believed that a "connection of compassion" was instantly established between the boys and they even taught each other new skills of human behavior. For example, how to drink liquids from mugs. They both grew up in the wild, so they were much more comfortable together, because they understood each other.
During this period, several more children were found raised by animals in the Indian jungle.
As strange as it may sound, in addition to Dean, at the end of the 19th century, other wolf-cubs were found in the Indian jungle. One of the missionaries found a wild child near Jalpaigur in 1892. The next year, a boy who loved to eat frogs was found in Batsipur near Dalsingaray.
Two years later, the child was found near Sultanpur and they say that later he settled well among people and even went to work for the police. The latter was found 3 years later, a child near Shajampur, who could not adapt to life among people at all, although they tried to "tame" him for 14 years.
Dean was unable to adapt to society fully and tuberculosis killed him
After living in the orphanage for nearly a decade, Dean was unable to catch up in his mental development. The eighteen-year-old boy barely reached 152 centimeters in height. The young man was low-browed and with big teeth, he was constantly nervous and felt “out of place”.
He is believed to have died at the age of twenty-nine due to tuberculosis in 1895. However, according to other sources, he was 34 years old by that time.
Evidence for the existence of children raised by wolves first emerges in India in the 1850s.
Sir William Henry Slimane's 1851 pamphlet, Indian Statistics of Wolves Raising Children in Their Packs, is one of the first facts to explain the existence of six wolf children in India. Five of these wild children were found in what is now Sultanpur. One was caught in the area of present-day Bahreich.
Slimane said there were many wolves who lived near the city of Sultanpur and other areas on the banks of the Gomtri River, and they ran with "a lot of children."
Pupils of wolves, children were killed in the jungle by tigers and other predators
Why were there only children raised by wolves in the jungle, and not adult boys or girls? It is likely that many children did not manage to survive their childhood. Perhaps they starved to death or were killed by wolves themselves or other predatory animals.
In The Jungle Book, Mowgli's worst enemy was the tiger Sher Khan. In India, even at that time, there were many tigers who could easily attack a child in a wolf pack, because people are not allowed to run as fast as wolves. During the 19th century, hunters often found dead children's bodies in the jungle, gnawed by wild animals.
Wild children: truth or deception?
Over the years, there have been numerous stories of wild children caught and retrained to live in society, but many of the stories have since been debunked.
One of the most famous cases in the 1920s involved two girls, Amala and Kamala, who were almost nine years old when they were rescued from a wolf pack. The person who found them told everyone that the little ones howled at the moon, walked on all fours and ate only raw meat. He tried to teach them how to walk and talk.
The researchers were fascinated by this story and wrote many stories and books about them. But later it turned out that the girls were not at all raised by wolves, but from birth they were disabled with congenital defects of the limbs.
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Mowgli is a popular character coined by Kipling. For a long time, this hero continues to be admired by both book lovers and moviegoers. And there is nothing strange in this, because Mowgli embodies beauty, intelligence and nobility, while being just a jungle fairy tale.
There is another fairly well-known character raised by monkeys. This, of course, is about Tarzan. According to the book, he managed not only to integrate into society, but also to marry successfully. At the same time, animal habits have almost completely disappeared.
Is there a place for fairy tales in the real world?
Naturally, the stories look quite attractive, they take your breath away, carry you into the world of adventure and make you believe that the characters will find a place for themselves in any country, in any conditions. But in reality, everything does not look so great. There have not yet been such cases when a child raised by animals became, over time, a man. He will begin to develop Mowgli's syndrome.
The main features of the disease
Human development is characterized by the presence of specific boundaries when certain functions are laid down. Speech training, imitation of parents, upright posture and much more. And if the child does not learn all this, then he will not do it when he grows up. And the real Mowgli is unlikely to learn human speech, he will not start walking on all fours. And he would never have understood the moral principles of society.
So what does Mowgli syndrome mean? We are talking about a number of features and parameters that are possessed by those who were not brought up in human society. This is the ability to speak, and the fear caused by people, and the lack of recognition of tableware, etc.
Of course, a "human baby" raised by animals can be taught to imitate speech or behavior inherent in humans. But Mowgli's syndrome turns it all into routine training. Naturally, a child is able to adapt to society if he is returned before the onset of 12-13 years. However, he will still suffer from mental disorders.
There was a case when a child was raised by dogs. Over time, the girl was taught to speak, but this did not make her consider herself a human. In her opinion, she was precisely a dog and did not belong to human society. Mowgli's syndrome sometimes leads to death, because children raised by animals, getting to people, begin to experience more and not only physiological.
Experts know a large number of stories of "human babies", and only a small part of them are known to society. This review will consider the most famous Mowgli children.
Chimpanzee boy from Nigeria
In 1996, the boy Bello was found in the jungle of Nigeria. It was difficult to determine his exact age, but according to the assumptions of experts, the child was only 2 years old. The foundling was found to have abnormalities of a physical and mental nature. Apparently because of this, he was left in the forest. Naturally, he could not stand up for himself, but chimpanzees not only did not harm him, but also accepted into their tribe.
Like many other feral children, a boy named Bello adopted animal habits, began to walk like monkeys. The story became widespread in 2002, when a boy was discovered in a boarding school for abandoned children. At first, he often fought, threw various things, ran and jumped. However, over time, he became calmer, but did not learn to talk. In 2005, Bello died for unknown reasons.
Bird boy from Russia
Mowgli's syndrome made itself felt in many countries. Russia was no exception. In 2008, a six-year-old boy was found in Volgograd. Human speech was unfamiliar to him; instead, the foundling chirped. He acquired this skill thanks to his parrot friends. The boy's name was Vanya Yudin.
It should be noted that the guy was not physically injured in any way. However, he was not able to get in touch with people. Vanya possessed bird-like behavior and used his hands to express emotions. This was due to the fact that for a long time the guy lived without leaving the room in which the birds of his mother lived.
Although the boy lived with his mother, according to social workers, she not only did not speak to him, but also treated him like another feathered pet. At the present stage, the guy is in the center of psychological help. Experts are trying to bring him back from the bird world.
Boy Raised by Wolves
In 1867, a 6-year-old boy was found by Indian hunters. It happened in a cave where a pack of wolves lived. Dean Sanichar, and that was the name of the foundling, ran on all fours, like animals. They tried to treat the guy, but in those days there were not only appropriate means, but also effective methods.
At first, the "human cub" ate raw meat, refused dishes, tried to rip off his clothes. Over time, he began to eat cooked meals. But I never learned to talk.
Wolf girls
In 1920, Amala and Kamala were discovered in a lair of wolves in India. The first was 1.5 years old, the second was already 8 years old. For most of their lives, girls were raised by wolves. Although they were together, experts did not consider them sisters, since the age difference was quite significant. They were just left in one place at different times.
The feral children were found under rather interesting circumstances. At that time, rumors of two ghostly spirits who lived with the wolves were widespread in the village. Frightened residents came to the priest for help. He, hiding near the cave, waited for the wolves to leave and looked into their lair, where the children who were raised by the animals were found.
According to the description of the priest, the girls were "disgusting creatures from head to toe", moved exclusively on all fours, and did not have any human characteristics. Although he had no experience in adapting such children, he took them with him.
Amala and Kamala slept together, refused clothes, ate only raw meat, and often howled. They could no longer walk upright, as the tendons with joints on the hands became shorter as a result of physical deformation. The girls refused to communicate with people, trying to return to the jungle.
After some time, Amala died, because of which Kamala fell into deep mourning and even cried for the first time. The priest thought that she would soon die, so he began to work more actively on her. As a result, Kamala learned to walk at least a little, and even learned a few words. But in 1929 she died due to kidney failure.
Children raised by dogs
Madina was discovered by specialists at the age of three. Her upbringing was not carried out by people, but by dogs. Madina preferred to bark, although she knew some of the words. The found girl after examination was recognized as mentally and physically healthy. It is for this reason that the dog girl still has a chance to return to a full life in human society.
Another similar story happened in Ukraine in 1991. Parents left their daughter Oksana at the age of three in a kennel, where she grew up for 5 years surrounded by dogs. In this regard, she adopted the behavior of animals, began to bark, growl, and moved exclusively on all fours.
The dog girl knew only two words - yes and no. After a course of intensive therapy, the child nevertheless acquired social and verbal skills and began to speak. But the psychological problems never went away. The girl does not know how to express herself, and quite often tries to communicate not by speech, but by showing emotions. Now the girl lives in Odessa in one of the clinics, often spending her time with animals.
Wolf girl
The Lobo girl was first seen in 1845. She, along with a pack of predators, attacked goats near San Felipe. After a year, information about Lobo was confirmed. She was seen eating the meat of a killed goat. The villagers started looking for the child. It was they who caught the girl and named her Lobo.
But, like many other Mowgli children, the girl tried to break free, which she did. The next time they saw her only after 8 years by the river with wolf cubs. Frightened by people, she picked up the animals and disappeared into the forest. No one met her again.
Wild child
The girl Rochom Piengeng disappeared with her sister when she was only 8 years old. They found her only 18 years later in 2007, when her parents no longer hoped for it. The wild cub was discovered as a peasant whose girl was trying to steal food. Her sister was never found.
They worked with Roch a lot, tried with all their might to return to normal life. After a while, she even began to utter some words. If Rochom was hungry, she pointed at her mouth, often crawled on the ground and refused to wear clothes. The girl was not used to human life, having escaped into the forest in 2010. Since that time, her whereabouts are unknown.
Child trapped in a room
Anyone interested in children raised by animals knows a girl named Jean. Although she did not live with animals, she resembled them in her habits. At the age of 13, she was locked in a room containing only a chair and a pot attached to it. Also, the father liked to tie Jean and close her in a sleeping bag.
The child's parent abused his power, did not allow the girl to talk, punishing her for trying to pronounce something with a stick. Instead of human communication, he growled and barked at her. The head of the family did not allow communication with the child and her mother. For this reason, the girl's vocabulary included only 20 words.
Gene was discovered in 1970. At first, she was thought to be autistic. But then the doctors still discovered that the child had become a victim of violence. For a long time, Jean was treated at the children's hospital. But this did not lead to any significant improvements. Although she was able to answer some questions, she still possessed the habits of an animal. The girl kept her hands in front of her all the time, as if they were paws. She never stopped scratching and biting.
Subsequently, a therapist became involved in her upbringing. Thanks to him, she learned sign language, began to express emotions through drawings and communication. The training lasted for 4 years. Then she went to live with her mother, and then she ended up with foster parents, with whom the girl was again unlucky. The new family forced the child to become dumb. The girl now lives in Southern California.
Wild Peter
Mowgli's syndrome, examples of which were described above, also manifested itself in a child living in Germany. In 1724, people discovered a hairy boy who only moved on all fours. They were able to catch him with the help of deception. Peter did not speak at all and ate only raw food. Although later he began to do simple work, he never learned to communicate. Wild Peter died at an advanced age.
Conclusion
These are not all examples. You can endlessly list people who have Mowgli's syndrome. The psychology of wild foundlings is of great interest to many specialists, if only because not a single person raised by animals has ever been able to return to a normal, full-fledged life.
Some predatory animals have rescued children and cared for them for years as if they were their young. Dr. Dear Barrett, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School, described every known case of children living with animals from 1900 to 2004 in her book Supernatural Impulses. She counted 31 children with such a fate.
Here are six similar stories.
1. Girls Raised by Wolves in India
In 1920, 8-year-old Kamala and 18-month-old Amala were found in a wolf den in Midinipur, India. The incident was documented by Christian missionary J.L. Singh, who found them.
“These children were more ferocious than the cubs. Long, matted hair hung from their shoulders, their jaws had a strange wolf bite, and their teeth were angular and sharp. They did not eat vegetables and could smell raw meat from a distance, ”writes Dr. Abraham Sperling in his book Psychology for Millions.
After a year in an orphanage, Amala died. When this happened, her sister showed human emotions for the first time. Kamala lived for another 8 years. During this time, she learned to walk on two legs and pronounce a few words. True, when she was in a hurry, she ran on all fours.
The doctor who took care of them says they ate only milk and meat and did not sleep at night, Sperling writes.
Their foster wolf mother fiercely resisted when they wanted to take the girls from her, as if they were her puppies, Barrett writes. She had to be shot. Other wolves from the pack came to the village and howled.
2. A boy adopted by monkeys after the murder of his mother
John Ssebunya from Uganda was 2 or 3 years old when he witnessed his father kill his mother. He fled to the jungle, where monkeys cared for him for a year. When a local resident went into the depths of the jungle in search of firewood, he was amazed to see a child among a group of monkeys.
The British Paul and Molly Wasswa later adopted the child. Journalist Evan Fergusson met him 10 years later in 1999. Fergusson, who described the meeting in an article by The Guardian, says that Ssebunya could only speak Swahili and stuttered very badly. Although the boy's manners, including short responses and avoiding eye contact, were very different, his responses were logical and meaningful.
For example, when Fergusson asked him about the bad attitude of some children in human society, Ssebunya replied through an interpreter: “They were just interested. I don’t want to think badly of them because of this. I was different. " He was vaguely able to remember the first time the monkeys approached him cautiously when he was left alone in the jungle for several days. He remembers that he was uncomfortable sleeping in the trees, and how the monkeys taught him to move through the trees in search of food.
According to Barrett, the monkeys threw sticks and stones at the villagers who were trying to take Ssebunya away. She writes: "When children are found living among animals, their adoptive parents always fiercely resist when they are taken away."
3. An ostrich boy from North Africa?
Sidi Mohammed was found at the age of 15 in 1945 in North Africa. He told anthropologist Jean-Claude Armen that he had lived with ostriches since the age of five. This story was quoted in Notes Africaines on April 26, 1945. This incident was also reported in the book Unexplained Phenomena by Bob Ricard.
The boy told Armen that when he was five years old, he found an ostrich's nest, and the birds began to take care of it. He stayed there, ate grass with them, learned to run at high speed, and slept under their wings at night. The hunters found him and returned to his parents, but he yearned for life with birds all the time. This story is based entirely on the boy's words, and it is unclear if Armen did any research to verify these facts.
4. Fiji chicken coop boy
Unlike the aforementioned children, Sujit Kumar was not adopted by animals in the true sense of the word. He was just locked up with the animals and spent so much time with them that he adopted their behavior. For several years, he interacted more with chickens than with people who just came to feed him and sometimes poured water from a hose to wash him.
When he was a child, his father was killed and his mother committed suicide. Kumar was taken away by his grandparents, but he showed visible signs of mental distress. They locked him in a chicken coop because they couldn't handle him, his cousin says.
In 2011, in an interview with ABC, Australian businesswoman Elizabeth Clayton, having learned the story of Kumar in Fiji, decided to take custody of him. By this time, he had already become a grown man. He was found at the age of 12 in 1984, after which he was kept tied up in a mental hospital for almost 20 years, where, like in a chicken coop, he practically did not communicate with anyone. He still eats chicken food and attacks people, trying to peck them.
At the time of this interview, Clayton Kumaru was in his 30s and was still clucking and unable to speak. Clayton tries to teach him how to communicate, she believes it is necessary in order to find another guardian when she dies. She is over 60 years old and Kumar is about 30 years old, so she worries about his future. She says that if he does not learn to communicate, then it will be difficult for him to find a guardian.
5. South African boy raised by monkeys
Mthiyane from South Africa lived among monkeys for a year after his mother abandoned him. He was found when he was 5 years old and sent to an orphanage, but only by the age of 15 he learned to walk straight on two legs.
Even 10 years later, he never learned to speak, refuses to eat cooked food. Mthiyane's story is briefly mentioned in the book Child and Adolescent Development: An Integrated Approach by David F. Björklund and Carlos Hernandez Blasi.
6. A boy raised by wolves in Central Asia
In 1962, geologists discovered Dzyuma running with a pack of wolves in a desert in Central Asia. They caught him with a net, but with great difficulty - all the wolves had to be killed. The boy was seven years old, and spent the next 30 years in a hospital in Turkmenistan, Adriana S. Bendzaken writes in his book “Encounters with Wild Children”.
He began speaking four years later and told scientists that he rode on the back of his wolf mother, and then she taught him to ride on the back of the rest of the wolves in the pack.