Feral child
A feral child is a young person who has lived in isolation from human contact for an extended period, leading to significant impairments in cognitive abilities, communication skills, and socialization. There are two main categories of feral children: those who are lost or abandoned in the wild, potentially supported by animals, and those who are confined or mistreated by caregivers. Historically, stories of feral children have appeared across cultures, serving as cautionary tales or legends, such as the well-known myth of Romulus and Remus, who were said to have been raised by a she-wolf.
Real-life cases of feral children reveal the traumatic circumstances that often lead to their isolation, impacting their ability to integrate into society. Some well-documented examples include individuals like Wild Peter and Memmie le Blanc, who lived in the wilderness before being discovered. Additionally, there are cases where children have been subjected to neglect and abuse, such as Genie and Danielle Crockett, whose experiences highlight the severe consequences of isolation and mistreatment. These narratives underscore the complex realities faced by feral children and the varied paths to reintegration into society.
Feral child
A feral child is a child who from an early age has lived for an extended period isolated from human contact. As a result of this isolation, feral children are typically impaired or completely lacking in cognitive ability, communication skill, and socialization. Two types of feral children exist: those who are lost or abandoned and live in the wild either on their own or with the assistance of animals and those who are physically confined and possibly subjected to other abuse by parents or guardians.
Historical Background
The existence of feral children has been a part of human culture throughout much of recorded history. Stories of feral children, both real and imagined, appear in the cultural mythos of civilizations around the world. One of the most famous fictional, yet historically significant examples of feral children is the story of Romulus and Remus, the supposed twin founders of Rome. According to legend, Romulus and Remus were the offspring of Rhea Silvia. The daughter of a deceased king deposed by his evil brother, Rhea was said to have been impregnated by the god Mars. When the twins were born, the late king's brother, fearing they would one day claim his throne, had them exiled into the wilderness. Left to die, Romulus and Remus allegedly survived with the help of a she-wolf and a woodpecker. After eventually being rescued and growing into adulthood, the twins triumphantly recovered their grandfather's throne and later founded the city of Rome.
Similar stories remained deeply ingrained in European culture well into the medieval era. One of the key feral child stories of this period was the tale of Valentine and Orson, a set of twins who became lost in the forest. According to the story, Valentine is found after a short time and taken back to civilization, while Orson stays in the wild and is raised by bears. As the two grow up apart from each another, Orson becomes the prototypical wild man of medieval lore who lurks unseen in the forest, terrorizes nearby villagers, and abducts women and children.
While such stories are rarely as culturally relevant in the modern world as those of Romulus and Remus and Valentine and Orson were in their times, the feral child is still a frequent subject of artistic interest. Fictional feral child characters like Mowgli from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book and the title character from J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan retain an important place in popular culture today.
Real Life Feral Children
In most real life cases, children become feral through deeply traumatic experiences that leave them unable to understand or cope with the behavioral and social conventions of normal society. In many cases, the nature and extent of a feral child's detachment from reality is dependent upon the circumstances of the individual's prolonged social isolation.
"Wild" Feral Children
Many people associate the term feral child with a youngster who has somehow ended up on one's own in the wild and is raised by or alongside animals. While it may seemed a bit far-fetched, and indeed several reports are considered to have been hoaxes, this scenario has played out numerous times in real life. One of the earliest known examples of a feral child of this nature was Wild Peter, a boy around age twelve who had apparently been living alone in the wild until he was captured just outside the German town of Hamelin in July 1724. When he was first recovered, Peter was unable to speak and refused to consume almost anything other than vegetation. After his discovery, Peter lived with King George I in England.
Another well-known feral child from the same period was Memmie le Blanc. Also known as the Savage Girl of Champagne, Memmie first appeared in the French village of Songi in 1731 in a dress made of animal skins. At first, she was wildly aggressive and resistant to capture. Once she became acclimated to normal society again, Memmie revealed that she had been sold into slavery as a girl, survived a shipwreck, and lived in the wild for a time with an African girl around the same age with whom she eventually parted ways.
In 1996, four-year-old Ivan Mishukov wandered from his home in the Russian capital of Moscow and began living on the streets with a pack of wild dogs. Over the course of two years, he befriended the dogs, became their pack leader, and enjoyed their protection. Authorities captured Mishukov, and he eventually reentered normal society.
Mistreated Feral Children
In some instances, children become feral because of gross negligence and abuse. Such stories often make headlines and arouse considerable public interest. In 1970, authorities in California discovered a thirteen-year-old girl who had been kept isolated in her bedroom and chained to a toilet training chair for about ten years. The girl, later given the nickname Genie by her caregivers, was mute, socially underdeveloped, and still wearing diapers. Genie recovered to a very limited degree after her rescue and remained significantly disabled.
In 2005, police officers removed six-year-old Danielle Crockett from her mother's filthy Florida home. Found isolated in a small room, she was unclothed, emaciated, and covered in insect bites and sores. Social workers quickly found that Crockett was unable to communicate or even eat solid foods. Doctors later diagnosed her with environmental autism. A foster family eventually adopted Crockett, and she was able to make notable developmental progress.
Bibliography
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