Wild Children: A History Of Feral Children

Wild Children

Wild Children are like untamed, isolated outcast. Wild children are described as a human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age. Wild children have been around since approximately 1644. Wild children also known as feral children are confined by humans (usually parents), brought up by animals, or lived isolated to alone. There have been over one hundred cases reported of feral children worldwide. In order to understand feral children, one needs knowledge of the significant cases, the scientific opinions, and the children’s behavior.

The first category a person should examine in order to understand a wild child is to understand the historically significant cases that have come up in history. One

thing to look at when studying wild children is to whom this happened to. This has been around for so long that the people this has affected have gone down in history, as famous cases that have helped scientist understand this condition. One of the first known cases of the “wild child” is a young boy named Peter. According to Moorhouse, Roger, author of "Peter the Wild Boy", “In the summer of 1725 a peculiar youth was found in the forest of Hertswold near Hameln in northern Germany. Aged about 12, he walked on all fours and fed on grass and leaves. 'A naked, brownish, black-haired creature', he would run up trees when approached and could utter no intelligible sound. The latest in a long line of feral children — in turn celebrated, shunned and cursed through the ages — 'The Wild Boy of Hameln' would be the first to achieve real fame.” Another source (Candland, Douglas K. Feral Children and Clever Animals : Reflections on Human Nature.) says that "Peter was of middle size. . . . He had a respectable beard, and soon accustomed himself to a mixed diet of flesh, etc., but retained all his life his early love for onions. As he grew older he became more moderate in his eating, since in the first year of his captivity he took enough for women. He relished a glass of brandy, he liked the fire, but showed all of his life the most perfect indifference for money, and what proves, above all, the more than brutish and invincible stupidity of Peter, just as complete an indifference for the other sex." And here Zingg adds a note: "It [the indifference to the other sex] rather proved that Wild Peter was feral, since no feral man shows sexuality.” These few sources show that Peter was one of the first known cases to man about a child who has had animal like symptoms. These two quotes highlight what has happened to peter, whom he is, and what animal like instincts he has picked up by living alone as a wild child. Peter lived to be about seventy-two years old, after he was sent to live on a farm in Hertfordshire owned by a retired courtier.
According to Massini-Cagliari, Gladis. "Savage Girls and Wild Boys. A History of Feral Children." Other cases include “Ivan Mishukov, a small Muscovite who had run away from home to live on the streets at the age of four, had been adopted by a group of dogs, and would later have become the leader of the pack. Of course, having lived for four years with a human family, Ivan could speak Russian perfectly well. It is interesting that the author decided to begin his cut precisely by a "wild boy" who, unlike almost all the other cases examined, had no "problems" of communication with humans (which was perfectly predictable since, Ivan was already at an age when the language acquisition process was already well advanced).” Ivan was a very interesting case because he already had the mental capability to speak to humans because of his four years with a human family. So after four years of being with a human family, Ivan runs away and lives with a pack of dogs. Ivan not only lives with them, but in time becomes the leader of this pack. This is not your average wild child story because of the fact that Ivan started of with a human family, then leaves to be the leader of an animal pack.
Next is a case of a “wild girl” named Memmie Le Blanc.

A man and his dog first found her in the woods. She was standing with a club as they encountered her, in which the dog barked at her. Running at it with her club, she beat it to death, and then stood over its body exultantly, glorying in her victory over the animal. Then she ran up a nearby tree and fell asleep. As stated in, Massini-Cagliari, Gladis "Savage Girls and Wild Boys. A History of Feral Children.” “Memmie Le Blanc, a wild girl found in the Champagne region in 1731. She wore a necklace with a few pendants and was dressed in animal skin and could not understand a word in French. It was placed under the protection of the Viscount Epinoy, who died about a year after his capture. From the beginning, its protectors realized that it had not been lost in the forest at a very tender age, since. She began to learn to talk, acquiring French slowly but not with as much difficulty as might be expected. From this, some of her teachers wondered if she had not already been among French speakers. As to her original language, this was now completely lost.” This follows more of the typical wild child stories. With time Memmie became introduced back into society slowly but surely. She started to learn a little French and she started wearing clothes and being a normal

“child”.
Next a she wolf raised these girls named Amala and Kamala.

The she wolf raised the 2 females as well as real cubs. According to Massini-Cagliari, Gladis. "Savage Girls and Wild Boys. A History of Feral Children.“ A rather famous story, at least among linguists: the story of the life of the wolf-girls Amala and Kamala. In 1920, called by a village, southwest of Calcutta to exorcise ghosts, Rev. Singh would have discovered that the "ghosts" were only two girls, who slept, ate, and finally lived for all purposes with a group of wolves. Having followed them to the place where they lived, Singh would have dug a hole to rescue the two children. The oldest would have been around eight years and younger, a year and a half. The Reverend took them to live in the orphanage he and his wife managed, and he protected the children from the curiosity of the press and science as long as he could. But he himself collected and recorded a lot of information about the

girls.”
“Genie, a girl from the suburbs of Los Angeles, who would have been arrested, tied to a chair by her own father, unable to move her arms and legs, and kept there by her family until she was thirteen. It was discovered in 1970, when her mother, already blind, would have escaped her husband's mistreatment with her; because of the blindness, missed the doctor's door with which he intended to consult about the problem with his eyes and ended up entering a welfare center where the child was taken from the care of both parents for abuse.”
The next category a person should examine in order to understand wild children are to understand the children’s behavior. When understanding these children we need to look for what scientist have said and researched. According to Moorhouse, Roger. "Peter the Wild Boy", scientists concentrated on the role of 'socialization' in child development. After a childhood supposedly deprived of parental care and nurture, Peter was considered to have developed a 'mental indifference' and a lack of empathy, reflection and memory. In common with other feral children, it was argued, he 'lived solely to survive', satisfying only his base desires for food and sleep.” This is showing that Peter after living with no parental care and parental nurture has developed no feelings or emotions. Peter was like an animal; all he needs is the basics of life. This includes food and water. There was no nurture in Peters life. Two authors named Rosine and Robert Lefort wrote about their studies on a child who was called the wolf child. They wrote down their experiences in a book called "The First Three Lessons of the Treatment of the Wolf Child." One part of the book states, “I took him downstairs to the ark which he wanted to carry. He was considerably less agitated. There were brief periods of indecision about what he would do, and when they lasted too long, he jumped in the air once, crouching down as he dropped, and then acted. Less agitated tension in his gestures, anxiety that could be perceived a little at times. No violent laughing; less screams. Tense face, but less unstable with changes of expression. Said "Mummy!" several times while going down the stairs, less heartrending than yesterday in the sense that yesterday I had felt that it was addressed to an absence while today it was in part addressed to me.” The authors also described the wolf child as acting much like a dog. Before deciding to take away everything from around the bottle, he noticed the water bowl. Very agitated, he rushed to it, grabbed it by the edge to turn it upside down. But he dropped it before the water was poured out, as if he were scared. The impact of the bowl against the floor made the water squirts. Laughing and crying, he looked at the pool of water; scared, he moved back, and then came over to the other side of my knees to look at the water, separated from it and protected by my knees.