Mowgli syndrome: feral children – the real and the scary are nearby. Amazing stories about children growing up among animals (7 photos)

Over the entire observable history of the human race, a little more than a hundred cases have been recorded in documentary or oral form when children grew up away from people, alone or in the company of animals whose habits they adopted. The stories that happened to “Mowgli” of all races and continents served as proof that what makes a person human is not an internal program, not the presence of some special soul, but normal upbringing in society.

In 1991, in Uganda, a peasant woman, Millie, who went into the forest to collect firewood, found a boy of about four years old in the company of monkeys. The baby looked very bad, but did not give in to his hands. Millie called for backup and the boy was cornered, fighting off the agitated monkeys. His knees looked almost white as the boy walked on them. The nails were very long and crooked.

A village resident recognized the boy as John Ssebunya, who ran away from people in 1988 after his father killed his mother in front of his eyes. He was two or three years old then. From then on he lived as a savage. And a few years later, having learned to speak, John told how he made friends with monkeys in the forest, fed them roots and nuts, sweet potatoes and cassava. Five monkeys took on the boy's forest education, teaching him to find food in the forest and climb trees.

They decided to test Ssebunya for his knowledge of monkey language and took him to the zoo, where, in front of reporters, he talked with unfamiliar monkeys with gestures and shouts.

Cambodian Jungle Girl

On January 13, 2007, a dirty, naked, scarred woman emerged from the forest in northeastern Cambodia. She stole food from a peasant, he caught her. A local police officer recognizes the wild woman as his daughter, who was lost in the jungle in 1988 at the age of eight.

Rochom Pngien, that was the name of the forest girl, lived with people for three years, but could not get used to them. She continued to suffer and learned only three words from the Khmer language: “mom,” “dad,” and “stomach ache.” She liked to crawl more than walk. I kept looking into the forest.

And so, in the spring of 2010, Rochom fled into the jungle, her native and understandable habitat. In June she was found again - in a toilet, a hundred meters from the house. She cried. As it turned out, she spent 11 days in a cesspool at a depth of 10 meters. The forest woman was washed clean and handed over to a team of Spanish psychologists who teach her the norms of human behavior.

Oksana Malaya

A girl from Ukraine, raised by dogs.

In 1992, an incomprehensible creature was brought to an Odessa boarding school for children with developmental defects. The medical card indicated that she was an eight-year-old girl. She walked on all fours, easily jumped onto the bed and onto the table, did not let anyone near her, baring her teeth and growling. It could have hurt. She was reluctant to use words, but she understood other people’s speech.

The girl-dog was originally from the village of Novaya Blagoveshchenka, in the Kherson region. Her parents were unlucky, and already at the age of one, Oksana was taken away from her mother and placed in an orphanage. My mother immediately left the village, and my father married a divorcee with 6 children. A couple of years later, I took my grown-up daughter from the boarding school for the holidays. With no one looking after the girl, she became friends with a couple of local dogs. They taught her everything.

For many years, Oksana was humanized. They taught me how to stitch on a typewriter, embroider, and count to twenty. It was impossible to leave her unattended until she was fifteen years old, when television crews arrived and forced the girl to bark while standing on all fours, after which she almost went wild. The matured girl was transferred to a boarding school for adults, where she is allowed to communicate with her best friends - yard dogs. And help take care of the cows.

Ivan Mishukov

A boy from Reutov who became a dog leader.

In 1996, 4-year-old Vanya ran away from home from his drinking mother and her alcoholic boyfriend. Replenishing the army of two million homeless children Russian Federation. He tried to beg food from passers-by on the outskirts of Moscow, climbed into a garbage container and met a pack of stray dogs, with whom he shared the edible garbage he found. They began to wander together. The dogs protected Vanya and warmed him on winter nights; they chose him as the leader of the pack. So two years passed until the police detained Mishukov, luring him to the back entrance to the restaurant kitchen. The boy was sent to an orphanage. And at the age of 11, Ivan entered the Cadet Corps in Kronstadt.

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"Feral Children" is a photography project by a German-born London photographer named Julia Fullerton-Batten. Although these mystical photographs are staged, the stories of these children are quite real. Each of these children had the difficult fate of growing up in incredible wild conditions. Some of them were raised by animals in wild conditions, while for others wild conditions were provided by their insane parents with obvious mental disorders.

Lobo the wolf girl, Mexico, 1845-1852

In 1845, this girl was seen among a pack of wolves attacking a flock of sheep. A year later, she was seen with the same pack of wolves eating a goat. She was caught but soon escaped. In 1852, she was seen with two wolf cubs, which she nursed. She ran away into the forest, and since then no one has seen her again.

Oksana Malaya, Ukraine, 1991

In 1991, Oksana was found in a dog kennel, where she lived with dogs for six of her eight years. Her parents were alcoholics and one night, they simply kicked her out of the house. In order to keep warm, a three-year-old girl snuck into a dog kennel, where she curled up among mongrels. Perhaps this is what saved her life. She acted more like a dog than a human child. She ran on all fours, breathing with her tongue out, showing her teeth and barking. Due to lack of contact with people, she only knew the words "yes" and "no".

Intensive therapy helped Oksana learn basic social and verbal skills, but her intelligence remained at the level of a five-year-old child. Today she is 30 years old, she lives in an Odessa clinic and works with the hospital’s farm animals under supervision.

Shamdeo, India, 1972

Shamdeo, a boy of about five years old, was discovered in India in 1972 playing with wolf cubs. His skin was very dark, he had sharpened teeth, long hooked nails, matted hair, and calluses on his palms, elbows, and knees. He hunted chickens and had a thirst for blood. He was taken from the wild. He could not speak, but scientists were able to teach him sign language, but they were never able to completely wean him from eating raw meat. In 1978, he was accepted into Mother Teresa's home for the poor and dying in Lucknow, where he was nicknamed Pascal. He died in February 1985.

Rights of a bird boy, Russia, 2008

A seven-year-old boy named Prava was found in a tiny two-room apartment where he lived with his 31-year-old mother. His mother kept him in a room filled with bird cages containing dozens of ornamental birds, as well as bird seed and droppings. She treated her son the same way she treated her winged pets. The boy did not suffer physically and his mother never left him without food, but she never spoke to him, so the boy only communicated with birds. He couldn't speak, only chirp. He also flapped his arms like a bird's wings, without understanding what he was doing. As a result, Prava was taken away from his mother and was placed in a mental health center, where doctors are trying to rehabilitate him.

Marina Chapman, Columbia, 1959

Marina was kidnapped in 1954 from a remote village in South Africa and abandoned in the jungle by her captors. She lived with a family of baby capuchin monkeys for five years before she was discovered by hunters. She ate berries, roots and fallen bananas along with monkeys, Marina slept in hollow trees and walked on all fours. One day, she got severe food poisoning. An elderly monkey took her to a puddle of water and forced her to drink, the girl vomited and began to recover. Marina made friends with the young monkeys and learned from them how to climb trees and learned what was safe to eat. She sat in the trees and played with them

By the time she was rescued by hunters, Marina had completely forgotten the language of people. She was sold by hunters to a brothel, from which she escaped and lived on the streets. She was then captured by a mafia family, but fortunately she was saved by a neighbor who sent her to live in Bogota with his own son and daughter. They accepted Marina along with their five children. When Marina reached adolescence, she was offered a job as a housekeeper and nanny for small family members. The family moved with Marina to Bradford, Yorkshire, UK in 1977, where she still lives. She got married and had children. Marina and her youngest daughter Vanessa James co-wrote a book about her wild experience, which they called "The Girl With No Name."

Madina, Russia 2013

Madina lived with dogs from birth until she was 3 years old, sharing food with them, playing with them, and sleeping with them on cold winter nights. In 2013, social workers found her naked on all fours and growling like a dog.

Madina's father abandoned her shortly after her birth. Her 23-year-old mother was an alcoholic. She was often so drunk that she could not care for the child, and for the same reason she was absent from home for a long time. She often invited alcoholic friends to visit her. Her alcoholic mother would sit at the table to eat while her daughter chewed bones on the floor with the dogs. One day Madina ran away to the playground when her mother was very angry with her, but the other children did not play with her because she could hardly speak and fought with everyone. So the dogs became her best and only friends.

Doctors said Madina was mentally and physically healthy despite the ordeal she had to go through. There is a good chance that she will be able to have a normal life once she learns to speak appropriately for her age.

Genie, USA, 1970

When she was very young, Jeanie's father decided that she was "retarded" and kept her on a child's toilet chair in a small room at home. She lived in this "solitary confinement" for over 10 years. She even slept on this chair. She was 13 years old when, in 1970, she and her mother went to a government office, where a social worker saw the girl’s condition. She didn't have a chair, but she hopped sideways like a rabbit. Genie could neither speak nor make any sounds, she just constantly spat and scratched herself. The girl immediately became the object of research. Gradually she learned to speak a few words, but could not string them together grammatically. Later, she learned to read simple texts, and even developed a certain form of social behavior. She lived briefly with her mother, after which she lived in dysfunctional foster families, where she suffered violence and harassment. Genie eventually returned to the children's hospital, where it was determined that she had regressed back to total silence. Funding for Genie's treatment and research was stopped in 1974, after which nothing was heard from her until a private investigator discovered her in a private institution for the mentally retarded.

Leopard Boy, India, 1912

This boy was only two years old when he was adopted by a female leopard in 1912. Three years later, a hunter killed a female leopard and found three cubs, including a 5-year-old boy. He was returned to his family in a small village in India. When he returned home, he could only squat and run on all fours, at a speed that an adult cannot run in an upright position. His knees were covered with hard calluses, his fingers were bent in a vertical position almost at right angles to his palm, his thumb and phalanges of his fingertips were covered with tough, horny skin. He bit and attacked anyone who came near him, once even catching and eating raw chicken. He couldn't speak, he just moaned and growled. Later he learned to speak and walk upright. Unfortunately, he gradually became blind due to cataracts. However, this had nothing to do with his experiences in the jungle, it was a family illness.

Sujit Kumar Chicken Boy, Fiji, 1978

Sujeet was born with mental problems, so his parents locked him in a chicken coop. His mother committed suicide and his father was killed. His grandfather took responsibility for his care, and continued to keep him in the coop. He was eight years old when he was found in the middle of the road, Sujit cackling and flapping his hands. He pecked at the food, sitting on a chair like a bird on a perch, and made quick clicking sounds with his tongue. His fingers were curled inward. He was taken to a nursing home by its staff, but due to aggressive behavior, he was tied to a bed with sheets for more than 20 years. Now over 30, he is cared for by Elizabeth Clayton, who rescued him from her own home.

Kamala and Amala, India 1920

Kamala, 8, and Amala, 12, were found in 1920 in a wolf den. This is one of the most famous cases of feral children. They were found by Reverend Joseph Singh, who hid in a tree above the cave where he spotted them. When the wolves left the cave, he saw two human figures coming out of the cave. The girls looked very bad, walked on all fours and did not look like people at all. He soon caught them. When they were caught, the girls were sleeping, curled up together, tearing off their clothes, eating nothing but raw meat, growling and howling. Their tendons and joints in their arms and legs became physically deformed, becoming shorter. They had no interest in communicating with people. But, their hearing, vision and smell were exceptional. Amala died the next year after her rescue. Kamala eventually learned to walk upright and speak a few words, but died in 1929 from kidney failure when she was 17 years old.

Ivan Mishukov, Russia, 1998

Ivan was abused in his family and ran away from home when he was only 4 years old. He lived on the streets, begging. Over time, he developed a strong bond with a pack of wild dogs with whom he shared food. The dogs began to trust him and eventually he became something of a pack leader. He lived like this for about two years, until he was finally caught and placed in an orphanage. Thanks to begging, Ivan did not forget the human language. This fact also played a huge role in his recovery from wild life. Now he lives a normal life.

Marie Angelique Memmi Le Blanc (Wild Girl of Champagne), France, 1731

For the 18th century, Memmi's history is surprisingly well documented. For ten years, she walked thousands of miles alone through the forests of France. She ate birds, frogs, fish, leaves, branches and roots. Armed with a stick, she fought wild animals, most often wolves. She was captured at the age of 19, her skin was black with dirt, she had long dirty hair and long nails. When Memmi knelt down to drink water, she habitually looked around, being in a state of constant combat readiness. She could not speak and communicated only by squealing and squeaking. She skinned rabbits and birds and ate them raw. For many years she did not eat food prepared by people. Her fingers were crooked like a monkey's because she dug up roots with her hands and swung from trees like a monkey. In 1737, the Queen of Poland, mother of the French Queen, was in France and took Memmi hunting with her, as she ran so fast that she was able to catch and kill rabbits. Despite all this, Memmi's recovery went very well. She had a number of wealthy patrons, learned to read, write and speak French fluently (which is not easy in itself). In 1747, she became a nun for a time, but one day she fell out of a window, and her patron died shortly after this incident. She was sick and destitute, but soon found herself a rich patron again. In 1755, Mrs. Memmi published her biography. She died in great financial prosperity in Paris in 1775, at the age of 63.

John Ssebunya, Monkey Boy, Uganda, 1991

John ran away from home in 1988 when he was three years old after watching his father kill his mother. He fled to the jungle, where he began to live with monkeys. He was caught in 1991 at the age of 6 and placed in an orphanage. After he was washed, the shelter workers saw that his entire body was covered with hair. His diet consisted mainly of roots, nuts, sweet potatoes and cassava. He suffered from a severe case of intestinal worms, some of which were found to be up to half a meter long. He had calluses on his knees from walking like a monkey. John learned to speak human language, and as it turned out later, he had a wonderful singing voice. He became famous for his singing and even toured the UK with the Pearl of Africa children's choir.

Victor, wild boy from Aveyron, France, 1797

Victor was spotted in the late 18th century in the forests of Saint Sernin-sur-Rance, southern France, and captured, but somehow managed to escape. On January 8, 1800, he was recaptured. He was about 12 years old, his body was covered with scars, and he was unable to utter a word. After news of his capture spread, many people became interested in studying him. It is believed that he spent about 7 years in the wild. A biology professor studied Victor's resistance to low temperatures, for which he sent him naked outside into the snow. Victor showed excellent resistance to cold, and the low temperature did not affect his body in any way. Others tried to teach him to speak and act "normally" but were unsuccessful. He was probably able to speak and understand speech before, but he was never able to do so after returning from the wild. He was eventually taken to an institute in Paris and died at the age of 40.

A photo project dedicated to modern Mowglis - children who grew up among animals - has become one of the most high-profile and stunning projects created by London-based photographer of German origin Julia Fullerton-Batten. These staged photographs reveal the terrible problems of modern society, in which, unfortunately, there is still a place for such anti-social phenomena as child homelessness.

The photo project is based on real stories of children who were once lost, stolen or simply abandoned by their parents to their fate.

1. Lobo, wolf girl, Mexico, 1845-1852

In 1845, this girl was seen running on all fours with a pack of wolves attacking a herd of goats. A year later, she was seen eating a goat with wolves. They managed to catch the girl, but she escaped. In 1852, she was seen again, this time suckling a she-wolf, but she again managed to escape into the forest from people trying to catch her. She was never seen again.

2. Oksana Malaya, Ukraine, 1991

Oksana was found living with dogs. She was 8 years old and had lived with animals since she was 6 years old. The girl's parents were alcoholics and one day they simply forgot her on the street. A three-year-old girl, in search of warmth, snuck into a pen with animals, where she fell asleep among the mongrel dogs, which then saved her life. When the girl was found, she acted more like a dog than a human child. She ran on all fours, sticking out her tongue, baring and barking. Of all human words, she understood only “yes” and “no.” Intensive therapy helped Oksana regain social and verbal skills, but only at the level of a five-year-old child. Now she lives in a clinic in Odessa and takes care of animals on the farm at the institution.

3. Shamdeo, India, 1972

This four-year-old boy was found playing with wolf cubs in the forests of India. He had dark skin, pointed teeth, long hooked nails, matted hair, and calluses on his hands, elbows, and knees. He liked to hunt chickens, could eat dirt, had a thirst for blood, and roamed with stray dogs. They managed to wean him off eating raw meat, but he never spoke, he simply learned to understand a little sign language. In 1978, he was sent to the Mother Teresa Hospice for the Poor and Dying in Lucknow, where he received a new name - Pascal. He died in February 1985.

4. Rights (bird boy), Russia, 2008

Rights, a 7-year-old boy found in the two-room apartment of his 31-year-old mother. The baby was locked in a room completely lined with bird houses with dozens of decorative birds, among food and droppings. The mother treated her son like one of her pets. She never caused him physical suffering, did not beat him, did not leave him hungry, but she never spoke to him as a person. The boy communicated only with birds. He couldn't speak, but he could chirp. When they didn’t understand him, he began to flap his arms like a bird’s wings.

Rights was moved to a psychological assistance center, where he is undergoing rehabilitation.

5. Marina Chapman, Columbia, 1959

Marina was kidnapped in 1954 from a remote village in South America at the age of 5 and abandoned in the jungle by her captors. She lived with a family of baby capuchin monkeys for five years before she was accidentally discovered by hunters. The girl ate berries, roots and bananas that the monkeys dropped; she slept in the hollows of trees and moved on all fours. One day a girl got food poisoning. The old monkey led her to a puddle of water and made her drink until she vomited, after which the girl felt better. Marina made friends with little monkeys, thanks to whom she learned to climb trees and recognize what is safe to eat.

The girl had completely lost the ability to speak by the time she was found by hunters. Unfortunately, even after that she had a hard time, since the hunters sold her to a brothel, from where she escaped, after which she wandered the streets for a long time. Then she fell into slavery to a family involved in dark deeds, and stayed there until she was rescued by a neighbor, who sent her to live with his daughter and son-in-law in Bogota. The new family adopted the girl, and she began to live with their five children. When Marina reached adulthood, she was offered the role of housekeeper and nanny for a family of relatives. In 1977, Marina and her new family moved to Bradford (UK), where she still lives today. She got married and had children.

Together with her youngest daughter, Marina wrote a book about her difficult childhood spent in the wild forest, and about everything she had to endure subsequently. The book is called "The Girl with No Name".

6. Madina, Russia, 2013

Madina lived with dogs from birth until she was 3 years old. She ate with the dogs, played with them and slept with them during the cold season. When social workers found her in 2013, the girl was walking on all fours, completely naked and growling like a dog. Madina's father abandoned the family shortly after her birth. Her 23-year-old mother began to abuse alcohol. She was always too drunk to care for the child and often disappeared from home. Also often the mother drank and feasted with her drinking companions while her young daughter gnawed bones on the floor, along with the dogs.

When her mother was angry with her, the girl ran outside into the neighboring yards, but none of the children played with her, because she did not know how to talk and only growled and fought with everyone. Over time, the dogs became the girl's best and only friends.

According to doctors, despite all this, the girls are physically and mentally healthy. There are fairly high chances that she will be able to lead a normal life after she learns to speak and acquires the necessary human skills for her age.

7. Jenny, USA, 1970

When Jenny was a child, her father decided that she was mentally retarded, so he constantly kept her on a high chair in one of the small rooms of the house. The girl spent more than 10 years in this “solitary confinement.” She even had to sleep on this chair. Jenny was 13 years old when her mother came with her to social services and social workers noticed strange behavior in the girl. She was still not accustomed to a regular toilet and had a rather strange gait. She also could not speak or make any articulate sounds. The girl kept spitting and scratching herself.

Jenny has been the subject of research for quite some time. Experts taught her, and she even learned a few words, but was not able to assemble them into a single grammatical structure. Over time, the girl learned to read short texts and acquired minimal social behavior skills. She had the chance to live a little more with her mother, and then she lived in different foster families, where, unfortunately, she went through humiliation, harassment and violence.

After everything she had suffered, the girl was able to be returned to the children's hospital, where doctors noted a clear regression in her development - she again returned to her previous silent state. In 1974, funding for Jenny's treatment and research ceased, and for quite a long time nothing was known about her or her whereabouts. Much time later, a private detective managed to find her in one of the medical institutions for mentally retarded adults.

8. Leopard Boy, India, 1912

This two-year-old boy was dragged into the jungle by a female leopard. Three years later, a hunter killed her and found three cubs in the den, one of which was a five-year-old boy. The child was returned to the Indian family in the remote abandoned village from which he was kidnapped. When the boy was first caught, he could run on all fours as quickly and adroitly as an ordinary adult could run on his own two feet. The boy's knees were covered with rough calluses, his fingers were bent almost at right angles (for more convenient climbing of trees). He bit, growled and fought with everyone who tried to approach him.

Subsequently, the boy was able to be accustomed to human behavior, and he even began to walk upright. Unfortunately, a short time later he became almost completely blind due to cataracts. The disease was hereditary in his family and had nothing to do with his “adventures” in the jungle.

9. Sujit Kumar (chicken boy), Fiji, 1978

The boy's parents locked him in a chicken coop for the dysfunctional behavior he exhibited as a child. Kumar's mother committed suicide and his father was killed. His grandfather took responsibility for the child, but he, too, continued to keep the boy locked in the chicken coop. He was 8 years old when neighbors saw him on the road, pecking something in the dust and cackling. His fingers were curled like chicken feet.

Social workers took the boy to a local nursing home, but there, due to aggressive behavior, he was tied to a bed and spent more than 20 years in this position. Now he is over 30, and he is being cared for by Elizabeth Clayton, who once saved him from home.

10. Kamala and Amala, India, 1920

Kamala, 8, and Amala, 12, were found in 1920 in a wolf den. This is one of the most famous cases involving wild children. They were allegedly found by Reverend Joseph Singh, who was hiding in a tree above the cave where the girls were seen. When the wolves left the den, the priest saw two figures emerging from the cave. The girls looked terrifying, moved on all fours and did not look like people at all.

The man managed to grab the girls as they slept, curled up together. The girls tore off the clothes that were put on them, they scratched, fought, howled and ate nothing but raw meat. During their stay with the wolves, all their joints became deformed and their limbs looked more like paws. The girls showed no interest in communicating with people. But their vision, hearing and olfactory abilities were simply amazing!

Amala died a year after the girls began living among people. Kamala learned to speak a few phrases and walk on two legs, but at the age of 17 she also died of kidney failure.

11. Ivan Mishukov, Russia, 1998

The boy was abused by his parents and ran away from home when he was only 4 years old. He was forced to wander the streets and beg. He became friends with a pack of stray dogs and wandered the streets with them and shared his food with them. The dogs accepted the boy, began to treat him with respect, and, ultimately, he even became something of their leader. Ivan lived with the dogs for two years until he was discovered and sent to a shelter for street children.

The fact that the boy was among animals for a relatively short period of time had a positive effect on his ability to recover and socialize. Today Ivan lives an ordinary life.

12. Marie Angelique Memmi Le Blanc (wild girl from Champagne), France, 1731

Apart from her childhood, the story of this 18th century girl is surprisingly well documented. During 10 years of wandering, she walked alone thousands of kilometers through the forests of France, eating roots, plants, frogs and fish. Armed only with a club, she fought off wild animals, mainly wolves. When people caught her (at the age of 19), the girl was completely dark-skinned, with matted hair and hard, curled claws. When the girl got down on all fours to drink water from the river, she was constantly on alert and looked around, as if expecting a sudden attack. Marie did not know human speech and could only communicate by growling or howling.

For many years she never touched cooked food, preferring to eat raw chicken and rabbits. Her fingers remained curled and she used them to dig up roots or climb trees. In 1737, the Queen of Poland, mother of the French Queen, on her way to France, took Memmi with her hunting, where the girl showed herself still capable of running like an animal - fast enough to catch and kill wild rabbits.

However, the girl’s recovery from the consequences of her ten-year stay in the wild was remarkable. She acquired several wealthy patrons and learned to read, write, and speak French fluently. She died in Paris in 1775, at the age of 63.

13. John Ssebunya (monkey boy), Uganda, 1991

At the age of 3, the boy ran away from home after seeing his father kill his mother. The baby hid in the jungle and took root in a family of wild monkeys. In 1991, when he was 6 years old, the boy was accidentally discovered by hunters and sent to an orphanage. When they cleaned him there and washed him of dirt, it turned out that the child’s body was completely covered with coarse hair.

The boy's diet in the jungle consisted mainly of roots, leaves, sweet potatoes, nuts and bananas. He was also infected with dangerous intestinal worms, which could reach half a meter in length.

John was relatively easy to train and educate, learned to talk and even showed a talent for singing! Thanks to this, he subsequently even toured the UK with a male choir.

14. Victor (wild boy from Aveyron), France, 1797

Victor was first discovered in the late 18th century in the forests of St. Sernin-sur-Rance, in the south of France. He was caught by the people, but somehow managed to escape again. In January 1800, the boy was recaptured. He was about 12 years old, his body was completely covered with scars, and the child was unable to utter a word. It is believed that he spent about 7 years in the wild.

Testing the boy's ability to withstand low temperatures, the French biology professor sent Victor to walk naked through the streets in the snow. Oddly enough, the boy was not at all depressed by this, and he felt surprisingly calm even in such conditions.

However, when trying to teach the guy to talk and behave as expected in society, all the teachers failed. The boy may have been able to hear and speak before he found himself in the wild, but after returning to civilization he was never able to do so again. He died in a Parisian research institute at the age of 40.

“Beared Children” is one of the latest projects of the English photographer of German origin Julia Fullerton-Batten. This is a series of dark but atmospheric productions inspired by true stories of children growing up in the wild or among animals. As it turned out during her research, there are many documented cases of feral children in the world. Lost, confused, and for the most part simply abandoned by their parents, children quickly forgot their identity and adapted to new living conditions.

Lobo, wolf girl, Mexico, 1845-1852

In 1845, a girl walking on all fours was seen among a pack of wolves attacking a herd of goats. A year later, she was seen dealing with the carcass of a goat along with wolves. She was caught but escaped. In 1852, she was seen again with two wolf cubs, but she immediately ran away into the forest. After that, no one saw her.

Oksana Malaya, Ukraine, 1991

Oksana was found living with dogs in a kennel in 1991. She was 8 years old at the time and had been living with dogs for six years. Her parents were alcoholics and one day they left her on the street overnight. In search of warmth, a three-year-old girl climbed into a kennel and curled up next to the dogs, which may have saved her life. When she was found, she acted more like a dog than a human child. She ran out on all fours, sticking out her tongue, baring her teeth and barking. Due to the lack of human interaction, she only knew the words "yes" and "no".

Intensive therapy helped Oksana develop basic social and verbal skills, but at the level of a five-year-old child. Now she is 30 years old, she lives in a clinic in Odessa and works on a farm at this clinic with animals.

Shamdeo, India, 1972

Shamdeo, a boy about four years old, was discovered in a forest in India in 1972, playing with wolf cubs. His skin was very dark, his teeth were pointed, his nails were long and curled, his hair was matted, and he had calluses on his palms, elbows, and knees. He loved to hunt birds.

In 1978, he was adopted into Mother Teresa's home in Lucknow, where he was given the name Pascal. They could not completely wean him off raw meat; he did not speak, but learned sign language. He died in February 1985.

Vanya (Bird Boy), Russia, 2008

Vanya, a seven-year-old boy, was found in a small two-room apartment in which he lived with his 31-year-old mother. He was imprisoned in a room filled with his mother's bird cages, among birdseed and their droppings. The mother treated her son like another pet. She never beat him, punished him or left him without food, but she did not talk to him. The boy communicated only with birds. He couldn’t speak, he only chirped and waved his arms like a bird when he didn’t understand something.

The mother was deprived of parental rights and the boy was sent to a psychological assistance center, where doctors are trying to rehabilitate him.

Marina Chapman, Columbia, 1959

Marina was kidnapped in 1954 at the age of 5 from a South American village and abandoned by her captors in the jungle. She lived with a family of small capuchin monkeys for five years before she was discovered by hunters. She ate berries, roots and bananas that the monkeys dropped; slept in tree hollows and moved on all fours. Once Marina received severe food poisoning. One old monkey led her to a puddle of water and forced her to drink, the girl vomited and she began to recover. Having made friends with young monkeys, she learned to climb trees and understand what to eat and what not.

Marina had completely lost her speech by the time she was caught by hunters. She was sold by hunters to a brothel, but escaped and lived on the streets. After that, she almost fell into the hands of the local mafia, but one man saved her and sent her to Bogota, to his family. They accepted Marina as one of their five children. In 1977, when Marina came of age, they moved to Bradford, UK, where she lives to this day. She got married and had children. Marina wrote a book based on her biography, “The Girl with No Name.”

Madina, Russia 2013

Madina lived with dogs from birth to 3 years old, sharing food with them, playing with them, and sleeping with them when it was cold in winter. When social workers found her in 2013, she was naked, walking on all fours and growling like a dog.

Madina's father left her immediately after birth. Her 23-year-old mother drank frequently. She was often too drunk to care for the child, and drinking buddies constantly gathered in the house. One day Madina ran away to the playground when her mother was angry with her again, but the other children did not accept her because she could not speak and behaved aggressively. Ultimately, she found friends among dogs and stayed with them.

Doctors reported that Madina is mentally and physically healthy despite what she has been through. Chances are good that she will have a normal life once she learns to speak like children her age.

Gin, USA, 1970

When Jean was little, her father thought she was retarded and kept her locked in a small room. She lived in this room for more than 10 years. She even slept in a chair. She was 13 years old when a social worker noticed her condition in 1970. She had no idea how to go to the toilet and moved sideways, hopping like a rabbit. She could neither speak nor make any sounds, and was constantly spitting and scratching. Over the following years, she became the subject of research.

She gradually learned to speak a few words, but could not speak sentences. She also began to read simple texts and stopped being afraid of people. Attempts to settle down with several foster families were unsuccessful, and she returned to the children's hospital, where it was determined that she was regressing. Funding for Jean's treatment and research was stopped in 1974, and after that it was unknown what happened to her until a private investigator discovered her in a private institution for mentally retarded adults.

Leopard Boy, India, 1912

The boy was two years old when he was picked up by a female leopard in 1912. Three years later, a hunter killed a female leopard and found three cubs, one of which was a five-year-old boy. He was returned to his family in a small village in India. When he was first found, he could only squat and ran on all fours, as fast as an adult can run on two legs. His knees were covered with calluses, his fingers were bent almost at right angles to his palm and were covered with hard, keratinized skin. He bit and attacked everyone who approached him, tried to catch chickens and eat them raw. He couldn't speak, he just moaned and growled.

Later he learned to speak and walk upright. Unfortunately, he gradually became blind from cataracts. But this was not caused by his life in the jungle; the disease turned out to be hereditary.

Sujit Kumar, Chicken Boy, Fiji, 1978

Sujeet exhibited dysfunctional behavior when he was a child. Because of this, his parents kept him locked in a chicken coop. Then, when his mother committed suicide and his father was killed, his grandfather took responsibility for him, but continued to keep him in the chicken coop. He was eight years old when he was found on the road, cackling and waving his arms. He pecked at the food, climbed onto the chair like a mother hen, and made clicking sounds with his tongue. His fingers were facing inward. He was taken into a nursing home by the care workers there, but because he was so aggressive, he was tied to the bed with sheets for 20 years. Now over 30 years old, he is cared for by Elizabeth Clayton, who took him from this home.

Kamala and Amala, India 1920

Kamala, 8, and 12-year-old Amala, were found in 1920 in a wolf den. This is one of the most famous cases of feral children. They were found by Reverend Joseph Singh, who watched from a tree over the cave where they appeared. When the wolves went hunting, he saw two figures coming out of the cave. The girls looked terrible, moved on all fours and did not look human.

After they were first captured, the girls slept curled up together, growled, tore off their clothes, ate nothing but raw meat, and howled occasionally. Physically deformed, their tendons and joints in their arms and legs were contracted and their limbs were bent. They absolutely did not want to communicate with people. But, their hearing, vision and smell were exceptional. Amala died the next year after they were found. Kamala eventually learned to walk upright and speak a few words, but died in 1929 from kidney failure at age 17.

Ivan Mishukov, Russia, 1998

Ivan has always been a burden to his family and ran away when he was just 4 years old. He lived on the streets and begged. He joined a pack of wild dogs and shared with them the food he could get. The dogs began to trust him and eventually he became something of a pack leader. He lived like this for two years, but was then caught and sent to an orphanage. Even living on the street among dogs, Ivan used speech when he begged. This and the fact that he was only wild for a short time hastened his recovery. Now he lives a normal life.

Marie Angelique Memmi Le Blanc (Wild Girl of Champagne), France 1731

Memmi's history takes place in the 18th century but is surprisingly well documented. For ten years, she walked thousands of miles alone through the forests of France. She ate birds, frogs and fish, leaves, branches and roots. Armed with a club, she fought wild animals, mainly wolves. She was found at the age of 19, black, hairy and with long claws. When Memmi knelt down to drink water, she repeatedly cast sideways glances, being in a constant state of alert. She could not speak and communicated only by squealing and screaming. She ate rabbits and birds raw. For many years she did not eat cooked food. Her fingers were crooked because she used them to dig up roots and cling, jumping from tree to tree like a monkey.

Memmi's recovery from her ten years in the wild was going very well. She had wealthy patrons and learned to read, write and speak French fluently. In 1747 she became a nun for a time, but after that she returned to ordinary life. In 1755, Memmi published her biography. She died as a wealthy lady in Paris in 1775, at the age of 63.

John Sebunya (Monkey Boy), Uganda, 1991

Victor (Wild Boy of Aveyron), France, 1797

This is a fairly old, but surprisingly well-documented case of a child becoming feral. Victor was seen at the end of the 18th century in the forests of Saint-Sernin-sur-Rance, in the south of France. He was caught, but somehow he escaped. On January 8, 1800, he was recaptured. He was about 12 years old, his body was covered with scars and he did not speak a word.

After the news of his capture spread around the area, many tried to study him. Little is known about his life in the wild, but it is believed that he spent 7 years in it. A biology professor researched Victor's resistance to cold. Finding himself in the snow without clothes, Victor did not experience the slightest discomfort. They tried to teach him to speak and behave “normally”, but to no avail. He was probably able to speak, but he never did so after returning from the wild. He was eventually taken to an institute in Paris and died at the age of 40.

Mowgli is a popular character created by Kipling. For a long time, both book lovers and movie fans continue to admire this hero. And there is nothing strange about this, because Mowgli embodies beauty, intelligence and nobility, while being just a jungle fairy tale.

There is another fairly famous character raised by monkeys. We are, of course, talking about Tarzan. According to the book, he managed not only to integrate into society, but also to marry successfully. At the same time, animal habits almost completely disappeared.

Do fairy tales have a place in the real world?

Naturally, the stories look quite attractive, they take your breath away, take you into a world of adventure and make you believe that the characters will find a place for themselves in any country, in any conditions. But in reality, everything doesn't look so great. There have never been such cases when a child raised by animals eventually became a human being. He will begin to develop Mowgli syndrome.

Main features of the disease

The development of people is characterized by the presence of specific boundaries when certain functions are formed. Learning to speak, imitating parents, walking upright and much more. And if a child does not learn all this, then he will not do it when he grows up. And the real Mowgli is unlikely to learn human speech and will not begin to walk on all fours. And he would never understand the moral principles of society.

So what does Mowgli syndrome mean? We are talking about a certain number of characteristics and parameters that are possessed by those who were not raised in human society. This is the ability to speak, and the fear caused by people, and non-recognition of tableware, etc.

Of course, a “human child” raised by animals can be taught to imitate speech or behavior characteristic of people. But Mowgli's syndrome turns all this into ordinary training. Naturally, a child is capable of adapting to society if he is returned before the age of 12-13. However, he will still suffer from mental problems.

There was a case when a child was raised by dogs. Over time, the girl was taught to talk, but this did not make her consider herself a human. In her opinion, she was just a dog and did not belong to human society. Mowgli syndrome sometimes leads to death, because children raised by animals, when they get to people, begin to experience something other than just physiological.

Experts know a large number of stories of “human children”, and only a small part of them is known to society. This review will look at the most famous Mowgli children.

Chimpanzee boy from Nigeria

In 1996, a boy, Bello, was found in the jungles of Nigeria. It was difficult to determine his exact age, but according to experts, the child was only 2 years old. The foundling was found to have physical and mental abnormalities. Apparently because of this they left him in the forest. Naturally, he could not stand up for himself, but the chimpanzees not only did not harm him, but also accepted him into their tribe.

Like many other feral children, a boy named Bello adopted animal habits and began to walk like monkeys. The story became widespread in 2002, when the boy was discovered in a boarding school for abandoned children. At first, he often fought, threw various things, ran and jumped. However, over time he became calmer, but never learned to talk. In 2005, Bello died of unknown causes.

Bird boy from Russia

Mowgli syndrome made itself felt in many countries. Russia was no exception. In 2008, a six-year-old boy was found in Volgograd. Human speech was unfamiliar to him; instead, the foundling chirped. He acquired this skill thanks to his parrot friends. The boy's name was Vanya Yudin.

It should be noted that the guy was not physically harmed in any way. However, he was unable to make contact with people. Vanya had a birdlike demeanor and used his hands to express emotions. This was due to the fact that the guy lived for a long time without leaving the room in which his mother’s birds lived.

Although the boy lived with his mother, according to social workers, she not only did not talk to him, but also treated him like another feathered pet. At the present stage, the guy is in a center for psychological help. Experts are trying to return it from the bird world.

Boy raised by wolves

In 1867, a 6-year-old boy was found by Indian hunters. It happened in a cave where a pack of wolves lived. Dean Sanichar, which was the name of the foundling, ran on all fours, like animals. They tried to treat the guy, but in those days there were not only appropriate means, but also effective methods.

At first, the “human cub” ate raw meat, refused to eat dishes, and tried to tear off his clothes. Over time, he began to eat cooked meals. But I never learned to talk.

Wolf girls

In 1920, Amala and Kamala were discovered in a wolf den in India. The first was 1.5 years old, the second was already 8 years old. For most of their lives, the girls were raised by wolves. Although they were together, experts did not consider them sisters, since the age difference was quite significant. They were just left in one place at different times.

Feral children were found under rather interesting circumstances. At that time, rumors about two ghostly spirits who lived with the wolves became widespread in the village. Frightened residents came to the priest for help. He, hiding near the cave, waited for the wolves to leave and looked into their lair, where the children who were raised by the animals were discovered.

According to the priest’s description, the girls were “disgusting creatures from head to toe”, they moved exclusively on all fours, and did not possess any human characteristics. Although he had no experience in adapting such children, he took them with him.

Amala and Kamala slept together, refused to wear clothes, ate only raw meat, and howled often. They could no longer walk vertically, as the tendons and joints on their arms became shorter as a result of physical deformation. The girls refused to communicate with people, trying to return back to the jungle.

After some time, Amala died, which is why Kamala fell into deep mourning and even cried for the first time. The priest thought that she too would soon die, so he began to work more actively on her. As a result, Kamala learned to walk, at least a little, and even learned a few words. But in 1929 she too died due to kidney failure.

Children raised by dogs

Madina was discovered by specialists at the age of three. She was raised not by people, but by dogs. Madina preferred to bark, although she knew some words. After examination, the found girl was found to be mentally and physically healthy. It is for this reason that the dog girl still has a chance to return to a full life in human society.

Another similar story happened in Ukraine in 1991. Parents left their daughter Oksana at the age of three in a kennel, where she grew up for 5 years surrounded by dogs. In this regard, she adopted the behavior of animals, began to bark, growl, and moved exclusively on all fours.

The dog girl knew only two words - “yes” and “no”. After a course of intensive therapy, the child nevertheless acquired social and verbal skills and began to talk. But the psychological problems never went away. The girl does not know how to express herself, and quite often tries to communicate not by speech, but by showing emotions. Now the girl lives in Odessa in one of the clinics, often spending her time with animals.

Wolf girl

The Lobo girl was first seen in 1845. She, along with a pack of predators, attacked goats near San Felipe. After a year, the information about Lobo was confirmed. She was seen eating the meat of a dead goat. The villagers began searching for the child. They were the ones who caught the girl and named her Lobo.

But, like many other Mowgli children, the girl tried to break free, which she did. The next time she was seen was only 8 years later near the river with the wolf cubs. Frightened by people, she picked up the animals and disappeared into the forest. No one else met her.

wild child

The girl Rochom Piengeng disappeared along with her sister when she was only 8 years old. She was found only 18 years later in 2007, when her parents no longer hoped for it. The wild cub discovered was a peasant whose girl was trying to steal food. Her sister was never found.

We worked a lot with Roch and tried with all our might to return him to normal life. After a while she even began to say some words. If Rochom wanted to eat, she pointed to her mouth, often crawled on the ground and refused to wear clothes. The girl never got used to human life and ran away into the forest in 2010. Since then, her whereabouts have been unknown.

Child locked in a room

All those who are interested in children raised by animals know a girl named Jean. Although she did not live with animals, she resembled them in her habits. At the age of 13, she was locked in a room with only a chair and a potty tied to it. Father also liked to tie Jean up and lock her in a sleeping bag.

The child’s parent abused his power, did not allow the girl to talk, punishing her for trying to say something with a stick. Instead of human interaction, he growled and barked at her. The head of the family did not allow her mother to communicate with the child. For this reason, the girl’s vocabulary included only 20 words.

The genie was discovered in 1970. At first they thought she was autistic. But then the doctors discovered that the child had become a victim of violence. For a long period, Jean was treated in a children's hospital. But this did not lead to any significant improvements. Although she was able to answer some questions, she still had the habits of an animal. The girl kept her hands in front of her all the time, as if they were paws. She didn't stop scratching and biting.

Subsequently, a therapist began to take care of her upbringing. Thanks to him, she learned sign language and began to express emotions through drawings and communication. The training lasted for 4 years. Then she went to live with her mother, and then ended up with foster parents, with whom the girl was again unlucky. The new family caused the child to become mute. Now the girl lives in Southern California.

Wild Peter

Mowgli syndrome, examples of which were described above, also appeared in a child living in Germany. In 1724, people discovered a hairy boy who moved only on all fours. They were able to catch him through deception. Peter did not speak at all and ate only raw foods. Although he subsequently began to do simple work, he never learned to communicate. Wild Peter died at an old age.

Conclusion

These are not all examples. We can endlessly list people who have Mowgli syndrome. The psychology of wild foundlings is of great interest to many specialists, if only because not a single person raised by animals has ever been able to return to a normal, fulfilling life.