Mowgli Syndrome: Raised by Animals
Posted by Mary at 9:31 am The idea of being raised by a black panther with a British accent and learning your “Bear” necessities from a giant singing bear seems a lot cooler than being brought up by human parents. Unfortunately, the reality is cruel in the rare cases of children who have been raised by animals. These children, known as “feral” children, have grown up with minimal human contact, no human love, no social skills and no human language skills. There have been over one hundred reported cases of feral children. Here are some of the unfortunate and twisted Mowgli cases.
Bird-Boy
In February 2008, a seven year old “Bird-Boy” was found in a small two-room apartment in Russia filled with cages, birds and bird shit. His 31-year-old human mother had been treating him like a pet bird his whole life. Though she never physically abused him and did feed him, she never spoke to him and his only communication was with the birds his mother kept. When spoken to, Bird-Boy chirped just like a bird. He was temporarily admitted to an insane asylum.
Wolf-Boy
S’cuse me while I go heave in the bathroom for a minute… Those toenails are E-GAD! Wolf-Boy was found living with a pack of wolves in a remote forest in the Kaluga region of central Russia. He was taken to a Moscow clinic (for a much needed pedicure) the day after he had been rescued from the wild however, escaped and was considered a dangerous threat. He displayed typical wolf-habits and behaviour, had sharp teeth and notable strength. He moved around with his legs half bent and was found running with wolves while they were on the hunt for food. Though the boy looks about ten years old, it is suspected that he is much older.
Dog Girl
Natasha Mikhailova was kept locked in a room with dogs and cats for several years, in horribly filthy living conditions among her father, Viktor Lozhkin, and her grandparents in the Siberian city of Chita. Natasha behaved just like an animal and the family treated her like one of the pets. Unable to speak, she jumps, barks, laps up for her food, drinks with her tongue, and walks on all fours.
The Andes Goat-Boy was found in the Andes, Peru, in 1990 and was said to have been raised by goats for eight years. He is said to have survived by drinking their milk and eating roots and berries.
Source: http://www.feralchildren.com/en/showchild.php?ch=andes
Saturday Mthiyane: Monkey Child
A boy around the age of 5 was living with monkeys for over a period of a year, in the Kwazulu-Natal province of South Africa. He visited human habitations along with his troop of monkeys in order to steal food, which is how he came to be noticed. When eventually captured, he was taken to the Ethel Mthiyane school for the disabled, and named Saturday Mthiyane — Saturday because that’s the day he was caught, and Mthiyane after the school’s head and founder. “He was very violent during his first days here. He used to break things in the kitchen, get in and out through windows. He didn’t play with other kids and instead he used to beat them. He liked uncooked red meat”. When the Johannesburg Mail and Guardian visited the school ten years later, they found that Saturday was still unable to speak. He had been taught to walk, but was still refusing to eat cooked food, preferring raw vegetables instead; bananas remained his favorite fruit.
Source: http://www.feralchildren.com/en/showchild.php?ch=saturday
Kamala and Amala : The Wolf Children
Perhaps one of the best-known and controversial stories of feral children is that of Amala and Kamala. Captured in October 1920 by Reverend Joseph Amrito Lal Singh, rector of a local orphanage West of Calcutta, Singh stated that he rescued the girls from a wolves’ den. According to Singh the girls displayed wolf-like behaviors. They scratched and bit people who tried to feed them, liked the taste of raw meat, walked on all fours, were mostly nocturnal and saw very well in the dark. He also noted their acute sense of smell and ability to hear. However, according to French surgeon Serge Aroles, the Kamala and Amala story is a complete hoax. The pictures showing the two wolf-girls were taken in 1937. Amala died in 1921 of a kidney infection. Kamala, in 1929, also of a kidney infection. According to the medical doctor in charge of the orphanage, Singh used to beat the children in order to make them act as he described. Aroles stated that both children were affected with Rett syndrome.
Leopard Boy
A leopard-child was reported by EC Stuart Baker in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (July 1920). The boy was stolen from his parents by a leopardess in the North Cachar Hills near Assam in about 1912, and three years later recovered and identified. “At the time the child ran on all fours almost as fast as an adult man could run, whilst in dodging in and out of bushes and other obstacles he was much cleverer and quicker. His knees had hard callosities on them and his toes were retained upright almost at right angles to his instep. The palms of his hands and pads of his toes and thumbs were also covered with very tough horny skin. When first caught, he bit and fought with everyone and any wretched village fowl which came within his reach was seized, torn to pieces and eaten with extraordinary rapidity.”
Source: http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/232/wild_things_feral_children.html
Syrian Gazelle Boy
A boy aged around 10 was found in the midst of a herd of gazelles in the Syrian desert, and was only caught with the help of an Iraqi army jeep, because he could run at speeds of up to 50 mph. My ass he was running that fast at ten years old! Plus, when news broke of the Syrian gazelle boy, two photos surfaced and the naked boy in the photo above has obvious tan lines on his arms and legs. Possibly because of the false photograph, there is a rumor that the Syrian Gazelle-boy story was a hoax perpetrated by bored news reporters stuck in the middle of a desert.
Source: http://www.feralchildren.com/en/showchild.php?ch=gazelle
The Turkish Bear Girl
In 1937 George Maranz described a visit to a Turkish lunatic asylum in Bursa, Turkey, where he met a girl who had allegedly lived with bears for many years. Hunters in a mountainous forest near Adana had shot a she-bear and then been attacked by a powerful little “wood spirit”. Finally overcome, this turned out to be a human child, though utterly bear-like in her voice, habits and physique. She refused all cooked food and slept on a mattress in a dark corner of her room. Investigations showed that a two-year-old child had disappeared from a nearby village 14 years earlier, and it was presumed that a bear had adopted her.
Source:http://listverse.com/2008/03/07/10-modern-cases-of-feral-children/
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Although, few pictures looks fake (Especially Leopard boy) but this is such a different story. Thanks for sharing.
get your pictures and facts straight please
wow, out of all these pics you chose the leopard boy to criticize? how about the goat kid? You can clearly see the reflection of “leopard boy’s” hand on the glass between him and the actual leopard. Oh and the year 1920 was given for leopard boy also, clearly this photo is just a reference, so maybe you should get your ass back in the kitchen where it belongs, and stay the hell off of the internet….
It seems there’s some confusion as to which pictures are real and which are not. The pictures that look fake are fake. I wasn’t trying to fool anyone by putting them there. If the real picture was not available then a humorous one was put in its place.
Keep up the good work observant gumshoes!
O no!!!! The internet police have found you! Run!!!!!
Have you ever went to comment on something, only to completely forget what you wanted to say after you entered your name and e-mail? LOL…