The Jungle Book or Tarzan may have been your favourite books while you were growing up. But do you know that there are many kids in real life who have had the same fate? There are some mesmerizing stories of children who were indeed brought up by animals.
We bring to you stories of 7 such kids:
Boy raised by goats
In the mountain range of Andes in Peru, a young boy was found in 1990. No one has an idea how he landed up there but he had been there for 8 years with a herd of wild Peruvian goats. He obviously couldn’t talk but used to communicate with the goats by bleating. He survived by drinking their milk, and also on the roots and berries available. He walked with all his four limbs. His hands and feet were hardened due to scar formation that acted like his hoofs. He could communicate with goats and could not learn human language. A team from Kansas University studied the boy and was later named as ‘Daniel’.
Vanya Yudin or the ‘bird boy’
Vanya Yudin was rescued by Russian care workers when he was seven-year-old and could only communicate by “chirping” as he lived in a tiny apartment with plenty of birds in cages. His mother treated him as one of the pets and never spoke to him. Therefore, he turned to the pet birds and learned how to mimic the chirps. Later, he was sent for rehabilitation.
Oxana Malaya or the ‘dog girl’
Oxana Malaya was 8 years old when she was found in a dog kennel. Three rescuers found her there after her alcoholic parents left her outside the house. She stayed there for almost five years. According to the doctors and medical records, it was revealed that she was born like any other normal child but as she was not near any human, she adopted dog traits.
She could not talk and physically behaved very much like a dog. She used to run around on all fours, barked and slept on the floor like a dog.
In 2013, Malaya told in an interview in a popular television channel that she wants to be treated like a normal human being and shouldn’t be called the “dog-girl”.
Lyokha, raised by Russian Wolves
In 2007, a boy in the Kaluga region of Central Russia was found near a den made out of leaves and twigs in the freezing cold weather. The police rescued him but he kept snarling at them as he couldn’t speak. In fact, he even tried to bite the policemen who had held him. The boy was about 10 years old who was later named Lyokha.
“He is dirty, hungry, and looked to have had a hard time. We brought him to a clinic in Moscow,” said the police spokesman to a popular media.
Though they bathed him, cut his claw like nails, he escaped from the place after 24 hours.
“We didn’t even manage to complete the proper medical checks. We only succeeded in giving him a shower, cutting his nails and took some blood and other tests,” a doctor stated.
Hadara, raised by Ostriches
The astonishing story is about a two-year old kid, Hadara, who got separated from her parents in the Sahara desert. It was almost impossible for her to survive but she was adopted by the Ostriches. She lived with the long legged bird family for a decade. At the age of twelve, she was rescued and is now happily married.
Ivan Mishukov, Russian Dogboy
In 1996, Ivan who was 4 years old then ran away from his abusive home. He was adopted later by a pack of wild dogs. He lived with them for almost two years. Over the time, Ivan adopted many canine characteristics but he was rescued and he quickly relearned to speak and live like a human.
Marina Chapman
In Columbia, a five-year old kid Marina Chapman was kidnapped and left to die in a jungle. However, she didn’t die; she was adopted by a tribe of Capuchin monkeys. Over the time she got used to their behaviours and the Capuchins too accepted her. Later, she was found by some hunters and they took her and left her in a brothel, luckily she escaped from there.
She is now a British housewife and has two daughters of her own. She even wrote her five-year journey, The Girl With No Name: The Incredible Story of a Child Raised by Monkeys.
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