Has there ever been a human raised entirely by (other) animals? We are particularly interested in wolves here a la Kipling. –Hanna L. and J.P., New York
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It wouldn’t surprise me. One look at Axl Rose and you know the guy wasn’t raised by Ward and June Cleaver. But nobody knows for sure. The idea definitely stirs the imagination–it’s inspired stories ranging from Romulus and Remus to Tarzan of the Apes. There are a lot of claims of actual sightings, too, many from India, where keeping a pet human is apparently de rigueur for the wolf with everything. But the flake factor in these tales is pretty high. On the other hand, the experts generally accept the possibility of so-called feral children–that is, kids living like (if not necessarily with) animals in the wild. More than 50 cases of feral children have been reported, wolf children included.
Singh and his wife cared for the pair in the orphanage they ran. Amala, who appeared to be about 18 months old when found, died after a year, but Kamala, who was about eight, survived until 1929. It was years before she learned to walk or speak and her vocabulary never exceeded some 50 words.
A 1970 California case suggests the deprivation theory is closer to the mark. “Genie,” a more or less normal two-year-old, was locked up by her demented father for 11 years, reducing her to a state of whimpering imbecility. Despite later training her language development never exceeded that of a five-year-old. Being a wild child may conjure up visions of some Blue Lagoon-type idyll, but the reality unquestionably sucks.
