We’ve all heard phrases like, “What, were you raised by wolves?”  For most, this is a far-fetched phrase meant to convey savagery or lack of decorum. This far-fetched expression  was the harrowing reality for a young Indian boy who was discovered by hunters in 1872 in the jungles of India.

A group of hunters were stopped in their tracks on a trip one day in the Indian jungle, Uttar Pradesh, one day in 1872. They were completely bewildered by what stood before them. A young and rather small child, wandering around the jungle on all fours.

The hunters felt that they could not leave the strange looking child in the jungle alone with the wolves and opted to try and retrieve him from the cave. They decided the best way to get him would be to smoke the wolves and the boy out of the cave.

The hunters took the boy to an orphanage called Sikandra Mission Orphanage. The people around him did not know what to make of the child. He behaved in ways that they were not used to, and did not seem to speak any discernible language.

Some of the boy’s strange behavior included walking on all fours. He did not seem capable of walking upright  on his two legs. Furthermore, he would only eat his meat raw and rejected any form of cooked food.

As the missionaries attempted to socialize the “Wolf Boy” by giving him cooked food and trying to teach him how to walk and talk, they also took it upon themselves to give him a human name. They decided to name him Dina Sanichar, the Hindi word for Saturday. 

Young Dina could not understand the language spoken to him, only making grunts and howls like the wolves he was raised by. A common practice for people to communicate with babies who cannot yet speak is to use sign language. 

Initially, the sounds of language that the missionaries made sounded alien to the “Wolf Boy” and he was not responsive in the least. Though the longer he stayed in the orphanage, the more the sounds began to form a pattern and decipher what the missionaries were saying to him.

Initially, the boy would only eat his meat raw, and this never really changed. One of the missionaries notes in a letter to his friend that he would smell his food, similar to an animal would before consuming.

Strangely enough, Dina was not the only wolf child who was living at the Sikandra Mission Orphanage during his stay. If the superintendent who was running the orphanage is to be believed, Dina was joined by two more boys and one girl who also have been allegedly raised by wolves. 

It is hotly debated whether or not the missionaries were being truthful or not. Some believe that they were simply seeking out media attention for their own sakes and completely invented the children. 

Although Dina never learned to eat or speak like the humans around him, he did take up one exclusively human vice in his short time on earth.–smoking. How strange that a boy who was raised to think of himself like a wolf and even walked on all fours should take up a habit.

Something that was noticeable to those observing Dina was the shortness of his physical structure in certain areas. Dina had a shortness in his arms that was not typical. The total length of his arms were only nineteen and a half inches.

Dina did not live a long life after he was taken out of the jungle from his wolf pack. He spent the rest of his short life in the orphanage that he was initially taken to. He spent 20 years there, and even after two decades his behavior remained noticeably absent from normal human behavior.

Most of us have heard of the Disney film The Jungle Book, however you may not be familiar with its origins. The film was created after the short children’s story The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. Kipling wrote the story in 1894, Dina the wolf boy died the following year.

As strange as Dina’s story was, he was not the only child who was discovered being raised by animals or being raised by nothing at all. Once found, they all had a difficult time trying to cope with the lifestyle thrust upon them when discovered by humans.

A 12 year old boy was discovered living in the woods of France in the 1800s. He was a true miracle to have survived, as someone had cut the boy’s throat and left him to die out in the woods. 

Once he was discovered, it was assumed that he would be a symbol of nature and innocence. They took him back to Paris and were prepared to welcome what they considered to be a miracle child.

When the Parisians tried to interact with the boy, they were left disappointed and appalled by what they found. The boy could not speak any languages, he was dirty, he did not respond when spoken to, he smelled like the forest, and would rock back and forth.

 The body’s inability to communicate with those around him left him vulnerable and he would have ultimately been placed into an asylum. However, he was spared.

A girl named Oxana Malaya was discovered after apparently being raised by dogs. Her story was a tragic one, having been neglected by her alcoholic parents and left alone for the fundamental period of development in her life.

One night after an evening of drinking, Oxana’s parents left her outside by herself overnight without realizing they had left their small daughter to fend for herself. To survive the coldness of the night, the child crawled into the dog’s kennel for warmth.

Oxana lived out of a kennel with her new acquired family and ate whatever scraps that they left behind. Though humans were in her background at a distance, and though she may have entered her house on occasion as though she were a stray dog, she no longer meaningfully engaged with her parents, and they did not care.

By the time the authorities came to help the neglected child she had lost all ability to speak and was running on all fours like a dog. Due to cases like hers, we have learned that there is a small window where a child can learn how to speak. Once a child is neglected from this, by the time they reach age five, it is too late.

With help, Oxana was able to learn how to talk again. This was because before she became a feral outdoor child she had picked up on some childish speech and this helped her come back to that part of her mind. 

Oxana is now in her mid thirties and lives in a home for the mentally disabled. She has been given small duties, and one of them is to take care of the farm animals that live on the farm. Much to everyone’s surprise, she doesn’t spend much time with her own pet dog.

The experts who have had a chance to visit with Oxana have said that she has the mental capacity of a six year old child. Much like a child, she has a low tolerance for boredom.

Another case of an isolated child was that of a child called “Genie” in Los Angeles, California. She became another study of the psychology of children who are locked away from society and how that affects their brains.

It was an October day in 1970 when a small child hobbled into a Los Angeles county welfare office. She was withered and stooped and held her hands up “like a rabbit.” She looked to be about six or seven years old.

The welfare officers first assumed that the child had some form of autism. She could not speak, she was not potty-trained, and drooled and spat. She had nearly double the amount of teeth that a human has– a rare condition known as supernumeraries, a rare dental condition.

Little did the welfare officers know, they had uncovered one of the U.S’s most severe child abuse cases. The young girl was given the name “Genie” to protect her identity, as they became more aware of what the girl had suffered through.

Genie’s father had been a cruel and unwell man. He had strapped Genie into a handmade straitjacket and tied her to a chair in a room by herself since she was toddler aged. Genie was not allowed to cry, speak, or make any noise. Her father would beat her and growl at her like a dog.

Clark Wiley was Genie’s father. He was a controlling man who had married a woman 20 years his junior. He did not want to have children, and yet children still came. The first child they had died after being left in a cold garage.

A drunk driver killed Clark’s mother and he began to really lose his mind. He beat his son and locked his 20 month year old daughter in a small bedroom all by herself where she could barely move.

Genie’s mother, Irene, was terrified of her husband. She also could not see well due to her cataracts. But in 1970 she finally decided to flee, and that is how she happened to wander into the wrong office in the welfare center.

Genie was able to speak only a few words. She could say “blue,” “orange,” “mother,” and “go.” However, for the most part she was silent. When she moved it was more of a shuffling and a bunny hop.

At first, it seemed like Genie would be able to make progress. She could chew, play, dress herself, and enjoy music. She also seemed capable of expanding her vocabulary.

Initially, Genie had made headlines. But soon she fell away from the attention of the world. However, scientists were fascinated with the young girl who grew up without language or social training.

Genie became a ward of the state and was kept in a state-run institution. Her location was (and is) kept a secret. No one is allowed to speak with her, according to a woman who studied and became friends with the child.

These feral children, while rare, are certainly a fascinating look at human development. They are also sad tales of children left behind by the people who were supposed to protect them.