Top 5 Facts About Feral Children
#5: They’re Rare & We Know Little About Their Lives in the Wild
The “feral child” is a common trope in works of fiction. Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan, Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli, François Truffaut’s L’Enfant Sauvage, Jungle Boy from “Gilligan’s Island”, the appropriately named “Feral Kid” from “Mad Max 2” - we could go on all day. While fictional realms are seemingly overflowing with feral children, in reality, they are few and far between. Of the reported cases, many have been hoaxes. Others are simply too poorly documented to verify. As a result, genuine feral children are extremely rare. When people do find one, gaining insight into their experience often proves incredibly challenging, if not impossible. Due to their difficulty learning language, they rarely develop the ability to tell us about their experiences. To simply observe them, without intervening to help, would be unethical … so from the moment of their rescue, their time in isolation often largely becomes a mystery.
#4: They Can Grow Up Under Various Circumstances
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In popular media, feral children are always raised by animals. But other, often darker, origin stories do exist. Some feral children, like John of Liège, simply survive on their own. After fleeing soldiers in the early 1600s at the age of 5, he allegedly lived on roots and berries for 16 years. Most upsetting are stories of feral children who were victims of intentional neglect, like Danielle Crockett, who was rescued from squalor in Plant City, Florida. Genie, the victim of the most famous such case, spent most of her first 13 years of life locked away by her father. When freed, she was severely malnourished and underdeveloped. Her command over language never developed beyond simple sentences. According to a private investigator, she now resides in an assisted living facility.
#3: When Raised By Animals, They Take On Animal Behavior
So what about the real-life feral children who ARE raised by animals? There are accounts of feral children being found in the company of monkeys, wolves, dogs, sheep, birds, and other animals. Sadly, such upbringings offer little in terms of comfort or care. In reality, feral children raised by animals tend to be malnourished, and to suffer permanent developmental delays. We’re not calling wolves bad parents... just ill-equipped to raise humans. What animals can give to human wards, however, are mannerisms and behaviors. A Ukrainian girl, Oxana Malaya, was found living in a kennel with dogs. She crawled on all fours, bared her teeth, and barked. Fijian Sujit Kumar, aka the “Chicken Boy” was locked in a coop after the death of his parents. As a result of this environment, he reportedly pecked at his food and held his arms like a chicken.
#2: You Can Take the Kid Out of the Wild, But Not the Wild Out of the Kid
When feral children are rescued, a long and grueling rehabilitation process begins. But depending on how long they spent in isolation or amongst animals, there are limits as to how much conditioning can be undone. Oxana Malaya is considered a real success story. Since being found, she has developed language skills and adapted to modern life in many ways. But, as pointed out in an article by The Telegraph, she can still revert to doglike behavior at will, and her speech and gait bear the marks of her upbringing. In a historical example, Dina Sanichar, the famous “Wolf Boy” of India, maintained certain wolfish qualities until his death, including a love of raw meat. He was allegedly rescued at the age of 6. It would appear that your formative first few years truly shape you for life.
#1: The Key To Nature Vs. Nurture?
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While ingrained animal behaviors are certainly interesting, that which feral children have don’t learn may prove even more telling. It seems certain human behaviors and skillsets need to be learned young or not at all. Feral children have helped us to understand just how fleeting this window can be, especially when it comes to language acquisition and social skills. When we factor the developmental limitations of feral children into the age-old debate of nature vs. nurture, the importance of nurturing a child becomes undeniable. We’re just beginning to scratch the surface of what feral children can teach us, but those aspects of so-called “human nature” that feral children don’t acquire in isolation could provide invaluable insight into the significance of early childhood socialization.
