| If you have ever seen the beloved children's | | | | animal protectors. Many times feral children are |
| movie The Jungle Book you have likely wondered | | | | those who have been abandoned or abused by |
| about the possibility of actual feral children. A feral | | | | their human parents and have survived in the wild |
| child is one that has lived outside the confines of | | | | for only short amounts of time. |
| social norms, has had little if any contact with | | | | The most credible account of a feral child is that |
| humans and knows nothing of human care for a | | | | of Saturday Mthiyane. This young boy was |
| child. These feral children are believed to be aided | | | | observed living with monkey's for over a year |
| by animals many times such as in the story by | | | | before he was caught and taken to a home for |
| Rudyard Kipling. | | | | the disabled. Saturday was typical of most feral |
| Every so often, there will be a media frenzy | | | | children in that he was violent, did not like other |
| surrounding a feral child who has been found, but | | | | children, would come and go via the windows and |
| is there any supporting evidence that these | | | | preferred raw meat to anything else. Even after |
| children were able to survive without human | | | | ten years at the school, this child was still unable |
| contact? Many stories after closer investigation | | | | to communicate through language and exhibited |
| have turned out to be elaborate hoaxes, but the | | | | much the same mysterious feral behavior that he |
| story of the abandoned baby saved by a family | | | | had when he was found. Unfortunately, in most |
| dog lends credence to the possibility that animals | | | | authentic cases of children who spent their |
| could intervene and protect a helpless child. | | | | formative years with no human contact this is |
| The stories of children being completely raised by | | | | generally the case, it is believed that there is an |
| an animal species are hard to determine, most of | | | | optimal time for language development and if |
| the time because if we know about them then | | | | missed it is impossible to reverse the damage. |
| obviously they were found and taken from their | | | | |