When animals adopt human infants

The story of one young infant, Aegisthus, is the story of a boy whose mother was forced to abandon it in Italy during the Goth invasions during the year 250.

Witnesses saw a mother goat pick up the baby and suckle it.

After the war's end, a few years later, people returned to their abandoned homes, where they found Aegisthus, still with the mother goat. The ancient historian Procopius describes having seen Aegisthus himself, with the goat.

Since the year 250, more than 100 records of feral children worldwide exist, although some are hoaxes. Many within the last 100 years or so are cases of confinement, rather than children living with wild animals.

In these cases of confinement, children were confined by their parents, often in a room, a closet or a box, until found by the social welfare department.

About 100 cases of animals caring for human infants or children are well known throughout history. Most of the children, when found, had enormous difficulties returning to human society: most were unkempt, and usually growled and crawled on all fours when approached. They were suspicious of people, and usually only uttered growls in place of human speech.

That babies and children have survived at all when in the care of wild animals is in itself an amazing comment on our fellow mammalian friends. That wild animals (usually dogs or wolves, but sometimes, goats, sheep, or bears), recognized that another living being needed food and care, and actually provided food and care for the child   - often for several years – boggles my mind.

 You may have heard of some of the famous cases, such as Wild Peter, born in 1725 in Hamelin, Germany, who'd been found in the woods alone after having left an abusive home. Peter was then given as a possession to King George I of England, under whose ownership he remained the rest of his life.

Peter did not live with wild animals; he was cast out or ran away from home. One theory is that Peter may have been the first known case of autism – he could not speak before he went into the wild.

 Victor of France is also a case of a child who was isolated rather than raised by animals. Victor was 11 when he was found in 1799. In Germany, Kasper Hauser was 17 when found in 1828. 

Other cases exist in the 17th and 16rh centuries of children having been found in India or Europe and having been raised with cows, bears, sheep, or wolves, but the information is very sketchy.

In more recent times since the 1800s, some interesting, heartfelt stories have been found.

A well -known story takes place in the U.S. Most cases in the US were actually cases of confinement by parents, rather than adoptions by animals.

In 1845, in Texas, a boy witnessed a girl, along with a pack of wolves, attack a herd a herd of goats. In 1846, a woman observed two wolves and a girl eat a freshly killed goat, before the girl ran off, first on all fours, and then on two legs.

Apparently, a woman had given birth to a baby girl in 1835, near Devil's River, but had died in childbirth. Tracks from the area seemed to suggest that a lobo wolf had carried off the infant, and nothing had been heard of the girl until reports of a strange girl began appearing in 1845.

Attempts at capturing the girl failed. In 1852, a 17-year-old girl was seen suckling two wolf cubs. The girl ran away, and was never seen again.

In 1920, two girls, aged 8 and 18 months, were found by Rev. J.A.L. Singh in a cave in India, living with a family of wolves.  Kamala was the older girl, and Amala was her infant sister. Like other children raised by animals, both girls growled, uttered sounds that were not speech, and had all the behaviors of their wolf caretakers.

A year later, Amala died of dysentery that had overtaken their residence.

Singh attempted to teach the Kamala how to walk and talk and live within human society. After five years, Kamala would not go outside without being fully dressed, uttering the word "fok" for "frock" and used the word "hoo" to indicate "yes" to wanting food. "Ha" means "yes" in Bengali. 

She was taught how to walk, stand and run, but she never developed proficiency with language. In 1929, Kamala died, at the age of 17.

Another Indian child, a boy who had been raised by panthers, was found in 1920, apparently in good health.

In 1937, hunters near Mt. Olympus, found a screaming creature
they could not identify, at first. Upon closer examination, the hunters realized the creature was a young girl, who had been living with bears in a cave. Eight years before, near Mt. Olympus, in Turkey, a villager's infant girl had been carried off by a she-bear. 

The mother had placed the child on the ground for a few minutes, while gathering wood, when she saw the bear carry off her child.

The captured girl, about 8 years old, was taken to a mental hospital. She has been written up in Wolf-Children and Feral Man by Singh and Zingg, published in 1942, and available on Amazon.com for $266.00, for a used copy.

Children in the late 20th century and in the 21st century who have been found living as feral children with animals often fare much better than children of the 19th century.

In 1991, John Ssebunya  of Uganda was found, after having lived with green African vervet monkeys for three years. Apparently, he had run away from home when he was four, after having witnessed his father kill his mother.

When Ssebunya was found, he at first resisted capture; he and the vervets threw objects at the perceived captors to turn them away. When he was finally captured, he was covered in hair and had numerous scars from wounds or from crawling on all fours.

He was placed in an orphanage, and after a time, was taught to speak and re-integrated back into society. Today, he is a singer who tours with an African choir.

Experts noted that most monkeys would not have taken in Ssebunya, and that the vervet monkey is unusual, in this regard. Experts noted that even though the vervet monkey accepted Ssebuna alongside of their society, they did not afford Ssebunya full membership within their society.

Still, the vervet was unusual among monkey species for allowing a member of another species to live along side with their own, noted that chimpanzees would eat the child, rather than care for it.

Also in 1991, an 8-year-old Ukrainian girl named Oxana Malaya was found in the company of dogs, with whom she had lived most of her life. Her parents were alcoholic and were unable to care for her; she became homeless and roamed the streets in her native Ukraine.

Her parents had kept her in a dog kennel near her home, where there were many dogs, but no people. Her behavior was doglike – she growled, crouched, and barked like a dog, and sniffed her food before eating.

Like other children I read who'd been reared by wild animals, feral children develop acute senses of hearing, smell and sight. But these feral children also have no social sense or emotional skills, as we know them.

By the time these children are found, their lack of exposure to language has severely hampered their abilities to learn language, making rehabilitation difficult for both socio-emotional reasons and for linguistic reasons.

Oxana was sent to a home for the disabled in the Ukraine, where she has learned to speak.  Her behavior resembles that of most socialized people in society. One question that remains for psychologists is whether or not she will be able to form long-term bonds with people.

On a recent visit from her father, the man who had placed her in the dog kennel, Oxana was seen to seek love from her father.

In 2002, a Romanian boy was found, after having spent three years in the care of dogs. The Romanian boy walked with the gait of a chimpanzee, slept under his bed, had animal-like movements, and became agitated when there was no food.

In 2004, Andrei Tolstyk, 7, was discovered in Siberia. His parents abandoned him when he was 3, and the family guard dog adopted him. Officials noticed he did not enroll in school at the required time, and went to look for him.

When found, he could not speak and his behavior was dog-like – walking on all fours, biting people and sniffing his food before eating.  He was placed in an orphanage.

In 1998, a previous Russian boy, Ivan Mishukov, was a 6-year old boy who had been adopted into a dog pack to such an extent that he literally became the leader of the pack.

There are times we all experience with our pets when the invisible barrier between our pets and us becomes so thin so as to nearly disappear: we believe we know what they are thinking or feeling. And you know, we are probably right.

We rejoice in our mammalian friends yet grieve because their life span is so much shorter than ours. What a wonderful blessing it is to have such a close companion in our pets, yet a cruel twist of evolution affords us their love and companionship for such a short time.

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Let us praise animals, for they are far more sophisticated than they let on.  Even to the most observant of us.