Have you heard of children who were raised by animals? We all have seen The Jungle Book, but we didn’t know that children like Mogli exist. Like The Legends of Romulus and Remus, somebody left the two abandoned brothers in the jungle and then was under the care of a wolf until a shepherd came to rescue them. The story of Romulus and Remus is said to be a myth because real-life feral children have shown cognitive-behavioral disabilities. Astonishingly, the feral’s stories show what humans will do to survive and animals’ compassionate sides.
Here are some stories of children abandoned by their parents at a very young age and raised by animals.
Contents
The Ukrainian Dog Girl
Oxana Malaya was just three years old when her abusive parents abandoned her. She has lived and shared a kennel with dogs since then. Somebody founded her in 1991. Oxana was unable to speak and only knew how to bark. She was also unable to walk on her legs and ran on all fours. She learned how to speak when she turned 20 yet remains cognitively impaired. However, she enjoys the company of cows. She is being taken care of at a mental hospital that is near a farm.
Cambodian Jungle Girl
One day while herding buffaloes, Rochom P’ngieng got lost in the jungles of Cambodia. She disappeared for 18 years. In 2007, a villager spotted her naked, sneaking in his property, trying to steal rice. She was identified as Rochom P’ngieng by the distinctive mark on her back. This 30-year-old woman survived all by herself in the dense jungles of Cambodia. She had a hard time learning and adapting to the local language and culture, so she fled back to the jungle in 2010. There have been some reports of people spotting her near their house.
Ugandan Monkey Boy
John Ssebunya, commonly known as the monkey boy, had fled to Africa’s jungles after being traumatized by his father murdering his father. The reports say that a troop of vervet monkeys raised him in the wilderness. Villagers found him in 1991. He resisted the villagers who came to rescue him, whereas the adoptive monkey family he lived with lent a helping hand by throwing pebbles on the villagers. Even after all his effort to stay back with his monkey family, the villagers rescued him. He can speak and sing, and he has now joined a choir group known as the Pearl Choir for children.
Victor Of Aveyron
The most famous feral child of all time. A popular movie based on his life story is “L’Enfant Sauvage.” People believed that Victor lived his entire childhood in the woods, naked and all alone. He was spotted in 1797. He made an appearance by his own free will near Saint-Sernin-Sur-Rance, France, in 1800. His survival, emergence, and language have been a favorite subject for scientists and philosophers. The scientist made only a few conclusions due to his cognitive impairment.
Lobo Wolf Girl Of Devil’s River
In 1845 a young girl was spotted running on all fours, attacking a herd of goats accompanied by wolves. She was yet again spotted gulping a freshly killed goat near San Felipe, Mexico.
Just after the incident took place, the villages were alarmed and planned to capture the mysterious girl. The villagers were prosperous in capturing her, but she howled all night and attracted several wolves who came to rescue her again. She succeeded in escaping from the apartment in the village. A few people spotted her in 1852 but escaped to the woods again. No one has seen her since then.
Russian Bird Boy
The Russian bird boy was raised by an abusive mother who treated him like a bird since his childhood. He lived and even ate like birds.
After his rescue, he was unable to speak and chirped like his partner birds. According to reports, he didn’t undergo any physical abuse and went to a psychological care center, where he is under professional care.
Amala And Kamala
Two girls identified as Amala and Kamala were found in a wolf’s den when they were 8 and 16 months old, respectively. The reports are from a village named Midnapore in India. They were not identified as sisters due to the age gap. The wolves took both the girls with them. Like other feral children, these girls had difficulty learning and adapting to the local language and culture and tried to escape into the woods several times.
The Wild Boy, Peter
In Germany, 1724, a wild, naked, and hairy boy emerged from the woods. Locals were able to capture him. He ran on his fours and was incapable of speaking. He showed weird behaviors like eating wild birds and plants raw. He was moved to England and was named Peter, The Wild Boy.
He was incapable of learning any language and did not know how to speak the local language. But he had developed a taste for music, and despite being intellectually impaired, he lived to an advanced age.
Marina Chapman
A British Housewife lived in Colombia and was kidnapped several times and was abandoned and left to die in the woods when she was just five years old. She survived by joining capuchin monkeys and managed to adapt to their habitat. After a few years, a family decided to adopt her. She wrote the story of her life in her book’s chronicles. She used to narrate these stories to her daughters to put them to bed.
Conclusion
Here were some stories of real-life children who were born and brought up by animals in the wild. We can conclude by saying that real-life feral kids’ stories are not the same as those fantasy stories that we see in the Disney movies and Rudyard Kipling’s books. But these were some live-action versions of the Lion King, Black Panther, and The Jungle Book.
