Feral Children Research Paper

Feral children, they're real! Those of extreme cases of human isolation are associated with the term feral man. How does one transition from being isolated in the wilderness to a normal functioning human being in society? Only some are able to transition while others stick the ways they have known. When finally found in the wilderness after an extraordinary amount of time of isolation, feral children will have developed many animalistic characteristics. Wild children are first discovered to “wear no clothing and will violently resist being dressed” (Sprehe, 1961). Wild children are also discovered to be going about on all fours. This development comes from living with quadrupedal animals. Following in the footsteps of animals has caused feral man to be capable of the astonishing sensory

The ages at which feral children returned into human society varied from ages three and ten. These ages seem very young and that is because they are, too young! Isolation during infancy will render the later establishment of basic social habits very difficult, if not impossible due to “the human child learning more during the first two years of his life under the influence of his living surroundings than in all the entire period afterwards” ( Zingg, 1940). In most cases of feral man, the children have already passed the optimal period for development of normal human response patterns. When reentering society, the development of human behavior is incredibly slow. Unlearning animal habits is a very harsh task for these unfortunate soils and the inability to acquire the desired kind of behavior even with careful training is destined to the fact that they had advanced to too mature and age to uproot the fundamental habits they had known from earlier experiences. It seems almost impossible for any child to speak, think and act like a normal person after a long period of early