Feral people. Children brought up by animals: examples from history

Since ancient times in legends and tales of different peoples there have been stories about how animals brought up human children. For a long time this was considered an invention, until such poor fellows were not found in the forests. "Children Mowgli, raised by animals, were studied 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 "a human being"

If we consider the concept of "people of the world" from the position of psychologists and sociologists, we can find out that these are individuals who were raised outside of human society. In Latin, feralis means "dead, buried." People deprived of the opportunity to communicate with such like themselves, were considered lost to society.

In the English version, the word feral means "forest", "wild", "uncivilized". For the first time this term was used by Carl Linnaeus, Swedish scholar of the 18th century. He singled out his step in the evolutionary ladder for people who grew up among animals and gave them a scientific definition of Homo ferns.

In modern sociology, they are given the name "human beings", and the first scientist who studied their phenomenon was the American scientist Davis Kingsley. Work on this issue, he began in 1940.

Pupils of animals were children of different ages. There are cases when wolves, dogs or birds become "parents" for babies, but there are examples of what they took, nursed and fed children of 3-6 years.

Feral animals

At all times and among different peoples of the world there were myths about children, which were raised by animals. As scientists explain this phenomenon, animals are excellent "educators" of human cubs, and not only in their natural environment.

Today it is often possible to observe how pets participate in the life of children: they lull, protect, protect, prevent them from falling or somehow harm themselves. The same instincts are characteristic of wild animals, especially those living in the pack. This is due to the fact that the animal community has its own hierarchy, the ways of communication between its members and the upbringing of the young.

Ancient stories about feral children

The most famous religious children of antiquity are Remus and Romulus, fed by a she-wolf. As you know, many legends are based on historical facts, so the story of two brothers who lost their mother, can also be true.

The boys were lucky that the shepherd found them, and they did not manage to run wild. In memory of their "adoptive mother" Romulus and Remus founded Rome just on the hill where they spent their first years with a wolf pack.

Unfortunately, such stories rarely end so romantically, because the people of the sea - children raised by animals - have serious deviations in the psyche and are unable to become full members of human society.

Wild "foundling" of the past centuries

Often, wolves became the adoptive "parents" of children. This is due to the natural for these animals high level of parental instinct and the fact that they are united in schools, in which there are long-term relationships between its members.

The first documented evidence that the wolf pack fed the children was the Chronicle of the English city of Suffolk in 1173. Unsuccessful attempts to return the wild child to human life were recorded in 1341 in Hesse. The hunters found the boy in the wolf's 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 bondage and feeding human food.

Nobody at the time studied such phenomena, specialists simply tried to return the human form to the children they had caught, which often ended pitifully.

Children - "bears"

It is not uncommon for people who are ferial (examples from history - direct proof) were raised by bears. So, in 1767 in Hungary, a girl with blond hair of eighteen was found by hunters. She had excellent health, had a strong tanned body and behaved very aggressively. Even after she was placed in a shelter, she refused to eat anything, except plant roots, berries and raw meat.

As these children survive, it is difficult to say. Bears do not gather in packs, although they have strong perennial alliances between males and females. Similarly, it is not known what the kids ate in winter, when the animals lay dormant. There are only a few cases of raising children by bears, one of them is a boy found in the 18th century in Denmark, the second an Indian girl, discovered in 1897.

In all documents of those years it was pointed out that the children found had animal habits, had sharp eyesight, excellent scent and could "talk" only with the sounds that the animals that have grown them usually publish.

The wild people of the 20-21 centuries

Most often in the last century the children of the jungle met in India. Among them were children-wolves, panthers and leopards. For example, the world learned about two girls - Kamala and Amale, who were caught in 1920. One of them was a year and a half, the other - 8 years, but both have developed the wolf instincts. So, they did not tolerate daylight well, but at night they were perfectly seen if only raw meat, lapped water, moved on bent hands and feet pretty quickly, hunted chickens and small rodents.

The youngest girl could not stand the bondage and died a year later from jade. Kamala lived for another 9 years and during this period she was able to master primitive human skills: walk exactly, wash with water, eat from plates and even say a few words. But until her death, she ate raw meat and offal.

As scientists note, the people who live long among animals, fully adopt the habits of their "adoptive parents", which do not disappear even after a long stay in human society.

Especially frequent are the cases of the discovery of feral people in the period from 1990 to the present day. Is this due to the fact that the kids got negligent parents, or they lost their way in the woods in their childhood, or maybe their habitat was simply broken, and so they were able to catch it, it is not known.

The importance of the child's social development

Scientists are very fond of doing experiments to prove their scientific theory. This method of knowing the truth and psychologists who wanted to prove that the child is already born with the need for socialization did not pass over this method.

During the experiment, the newborns were divided into 2 groups. In one with the children they nursed, talked with them during feeding or changing diapers, and kissed. In another group with the children did not communicate, but did everything necessary to ensure that they were fed and tended.

After a while, scientists noticed in children who were deprived of affection, weight loss and other abnormalities, so that the experiment was interrupted. Thus, scientists have proved that in man, the need for love and fellowship with like-minded people is inherent.

Thus, it becomes clear why the savage people are devoid of human feelings and rely solely on the animal instincts they have acquired.

The Nature of the Feral People

All cases of detection of individuals raised by animals indicate that in the wild nature they had a strong desire for survival. Just so the people of the sea could not survive, even with the best care of their bestial "parents."

Animals always act in accordance with what their instincts suggest, although there are cases when they experienced longing, losing their offspring. It does not last long, and short-term memory allows them to forget about the loss, which is not at all similar to the behavior of people. A person can suffer from the death of a child all his life.

All the Mowgli children acted as instincts told them: they sniffed food and water before they began to eat, defecated, hunted, ran away from danger and defended themselves in the same way as their wild "parents." This animal nature can not be eradicated if the child has been for a long time among animals.

Humanizing the Aveyron Savage

Attempts to humanize the feral children were always made. One of the successful examples is the story of the Aveyron boy. It was discovered in the south of France in 1800. And although this teenager moved on straight legs, all other habits betrayed in him an animal.

It took a lot of time and patience to teach him to go to the toilet where it should be, do not tear off his clothes and eat from the dishes. However, the boy never learned to play games, communicate with peers, although there were no deviations in his psyche. This "savage" lived to be 40 years old, but never became a member of society.

Proceeding from this, we can conclude that devoid of human love, children lose their inherent ability to socialize at their birth. They are replaced by instincts, which in ordinary people are worse than in animals.

If the child is lucky, and he was found at an early age, then he can return the human essence and instill proper manners of 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 father and mother. 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 "humanize."

A boy from Uganda, who was brought up by green monkeys, was able to fully recover. He got to them at the age of four, and when he was discovered after 3 years, he lived and acted like his "adoptive parents." Since too little time has passed, the child was able to return to society.

The reason for the appearance of the feral children

Too often, in our time, children are mentioned who were raised by animals. This is due in most cases to the indifference, carelessness or cruelty of their parents. There are many examples:

• A girl from Ukraine, who grew up in a dog's box. From 3 to 8 years 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.
• The boy of 6 years from Volgograd, brought up by birds, could only tweet and clap his hands like wings when he showed emotions. He ate bird food, being closed by his own mother in a room with parrots. Now the child is being rehabilitated by psychologists.

Similar cases occur in our time 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 unfortunates are not found in the forests, but in houses, animal booths and garbage - scouring for food.