There have long been stories in the legends and tales of different nations about how animals raised human children. For a long time, this was considered an invention, until such poor fellows were found in the forests. āChildren of Mowgliā, raised by animals, were studied back in the Middle Ages, but only psychiatrists of the 20th century could truly explain their behavior and justify the impossibility of returning to the human environment.
The concept of āferal manā
If we consider the concept of āferal peopleā from the perspective of psychologists and sociologists, we can find out that these are individuals who were brought up outside of human society. Translated from the Latin language feralis means ādead, buriedā. People deprived of the opportunity to communicate with their kind were considered lost to society.
In the English version, the word feral means āforestā, āwildā, āuncivilizedā. This term was first used by Karl Linney, a Swedish scientist of the 18th century. He singled out for humans who grew up among animals, his step in the evolutionary ladder and gave them the scientific definition of Homo ferns.
In modern sociology, they were given the name āferal people,ā and the first representative of this science to study their phenomenon was the American scientist Davis Kingsley. He began working on this issue in 1940.
Pupils of animals became children of different ages. There are cases when a wolf pack, dogs or birds became āparentsā for babies, but there are examples of them taking, nursing and feeding children 3-6 years old.
Feral animals
At all times and among different peoples of the world, there were myths about children raised by animals. As scientists explain this phenomenon, animals are excellent āeducatorsā of human cubs, and not only in their natural environment.
Today it is often possible to observe how pets take part in the lives of babies: they lull them, guard, protect, prevent them from falling or harming themselves in some way. The same instincts are characteristic of wild animals, especially those living in a pack. This is due to the fact that the animal community has its own hierarchy, ways of communication between its members and the education of young animals.
Ancient stories about feral children
The most famous feral children of antiquity are Rem and Romulus, fed by a she-wolf. As you know, many legends are based on historical facts, and the story of two brothers who lost their mother can also be true.
The boys were lucky that they were found by a shepherd, and they did not have time to run wild. In memory of his āadoptive mother,ā Romulus and Remus founded Rome on the very hill where they spent their first years of life with a wolf pack.
Unfortunately, such stories rarely end so romantically, since feral people - children raised by animals - have serious mental abnormalities and are not able to become full-fledged members of human society.
Wild āfoundlingsā of past centuries
Most often, wolves became the adoptive āparentsā of children. This is due to the high level of parental instinct that is natural for these animals and the fact that they unite in packs in which there are long-term relationships between its members.
The first documented evidence that a wolf pack had fed children was the 1173 Suffolk Chronicle of the English city. Unsuccessful attempts to return the wild child to human life were recorded in 1341 in Hesse. The hunters found the boy in a wolf den. When he was removed from the hole, he behaved like an animal: biting, scratching, squealing and growling. Thanks to the surviving records, it became known that he died, unable to withstand the bondage and feeding of human food.
No one at that time studied such phenomena, experts simply tried to return the human appearance to the children caught, which often ended in disastrous condition.
Children - āBearsā
There are frequent cases when feral people (examples from history - direct proof of this) were raised by bears. So, in 1767, in Hungary, hunters discovered a girl with blond hair of about eighteen. She was distinguished by excellent health, had a strong tanned body and behaved very aggressively. Even after placing her in a shelter, she refused to eat anything other than plant roots, berries and raw meat.
It is hard to say how such children survive. Bears do not gather in packs, although they have strong perennial alliances between males and females. In the same way, it is not known what the kids ate in the winter, when the animals lay in hibernation. Only a few cases of raising children by bears have been recorded, one of them is a boy, found in Denmark in the 18th century, the second is an Indian girl, discovered in 1897.
All the documents of those years indicated that the children found had animal habits, had sharp eyesight, a great sense of smell, and could only "speak" with sounds that the animals that raised them usually made them.
Feral people 20-21 centuries
Most often in the last century, jungle children met in India. Among them were wolf children, panthers and leopards. For example, the world learned about two girls - Kamal and Amal, who were caught in 1920. One of them was a year and a half, the other - 8 years, but both have already developed wolf instincts. So, they did not tolerate daylight, but at night they saw very well if they were exclusively raw meat, varied water, moved on bent arms and legs rather quickly, hunted chickens and small rodents.
The youngest girl could not stand the bondage and died a year later from jade. Kamala lived another 9 years and during this period she was able to master primitive human skills: to walk smoothly, wash herself with water, eat from plates and even utter a few words. But until her death, she ate raw meat and offal.
According to scientists, feral people, who have lived among animals for a long time, completely adopt the habits of their āadoptive parentsā, which do not disappear even after a long stay in human society.
Particularly frequent cases of detection of feral people from the 1990s to the present day. Whether this is due to the fact that the children got negligent parents, or they themselves got lost in the forest as a child, or maybe their habitat was simply disturbed, and therefore they could be caught, is unknown.
The value of the child's social development
Scientists are very fond of experimenting to prove their scientific theory. Psychologists who wanted to prove that the child is already born with the need for socialization did not pass by this way of knowing the truth.
During the experiment, newborns were divided into 2 groups. In one with the children they nursed, talked to them when feeding or changing diapers, kissed. In another group, they did not communicate with children, but did everything necessary so that they were fed and well-groomed.
After a while, scientists noticed in children who were deprived of affection, weight loss and other abnormalities, so the experiment was interrupted. Thus, scientists have proved that a person initially has a need for love and communication with his own kind.
Thus, it becomes clear why feral people are deprived of human feelings and rely purely on animal instincts acquired by them.
The nature of feral people
All cases of the discovery of individuals raised by animals suggest that in the wild they were characterized by a strong craving for survival. Just so feral people would not be able to survive, even with the best care from their bestial "parents".
Animals always act according to what their instincts suggest, although there are cases when they experienced longing, losing their offspring. This does not last long, and short-term memory allows them to forget about the loss, which is completely different from human behavior. A person may experience suffering from the death of a child all his life.
All Mowgli children acted as instincts told them: they sniffed food and water before eating, defecated, hunted, ran away from danger and defended themselves like their wild āparentsā. This animal nature cannot be eradicated if the child spent a long time among animals.
Humanization of the Aveiron Savage
Attempts to humanize feral children have always been made. One of the successful examples is the story with the Aveiron boy. It was discovered in the south of France in 1800. And although this teenager moved on straight legs, all other habits betrayed an animal in him.
It took a lot of time and patience to train him to go to the toilet where it should be, not to tear off his clothes and eat from the dishes. At the same time, the boy never learned to play games, communicate with peers, although no deviations were found in his psyche. This "savage" lived to be 40 years old, but never became a member of society.
Based on this, it can be concluded that children deprived of human love lose their ability to socialize at birth at birth. They are replaced by instincts that are less developed in ordinary people than in animals.
If the child is lucky, and he was found at an early age, then he can be restored to the human essence and instilled proper behavior. So it was, for example, with five-year-old Natasha from Chita. She was raised by dogs, who turned out to be better parents than dad and mom. The girl barked, walked like dogs, and ate the same as they did. The fact that she was found at such an early age gives hope that she can again āhumanizeā herself.
A boy from Uganda, who was raised by green monkeys, was able to fully recover. He came to them at the age of four, and when he was discovered 3 years later, he lived and acted as his āadoptive parentsā. Since too little time has passed, the child was able to return to society.
The reason for the appearance of feral children
Too often nowadays are children mentioned by animals raised. This is due in most cases to the indifference, disorder or cruelty of their parents. Examples of this mass:
- A girl from Ukraine, raised in a dogās booth. From 3 to 8 years old, she lived with a dog, where her parents left. For such a short period, the baby began to walk like a dog, bark and behave like her dog.
- A 6-year-old boy from Volgograd, brought up by birds, could only tweet and clap his hands like wings when he showed emotions. He ate bird food, being covered by his own mother in a room with parrots. Now the child is undergoing rehabilitation from psychologists.
Similar cases occur today in large cities and small towns around the world: in Africa, India, Cambodia, Russia, Argentina and other places. And the worst thing is that today unfortunate people are found not in forests, but in houses, animal booths and garbage cans - scouring for food.