The Sun
WE’VE all seen the Disney epic The Jungle Book – but for a few extraordinary people, the idea of being raised by animals is not just from a fairytale.
Some of the world’s most feral children have been forced to rely on the animal kingdom to adopt them and have grown up isolated from society in the wild.
Throughout history, neglectful parents, kidnappings and kids running away have led to youngsters being brought up by a variety of animals.
The children managed to infiltrate their tight-knit groups to effectively become one of them – leaving lasting effects, both physically and psychologically.
Here are the stories of some of the most extreme feral children who have been found in the wild.
Kamala and Amala – The “wolf-children”
In one of the most well-known cases of children discovered living in the wild, two young girls were found in the Indian jungle in the 1920s.
Rescued from a wolves’ den at the tender ages of three and eight, the children had been living with a female wolf and her protective pack.
It was never clear if the two were related or exactly how they ended up there.
They were both later rescued and taken to an orphanage by Reverend J. A. L. Singh, who tried to help them adjust to human life, starting by naming them Kamala and Amala.
But the pair sadly struggled to adapt to soceity after their unbelievable start in life and reportedly continued to display “wolf-like behaviour” – such as walking on all fours, being mostly nocturnal and biting people.
The girls are said to have made some progress, but eventually both passed away due to ill health.
Amala died in 1921 from a kidney infection, before Kamala succumbed to tuberculosis in 1929.
In an interview, the reverend later said that he wondered if it would have been better to leave the children in the wild where he found them.
Marina Chapman – Abducted and left with monkeys
The extraordinary case of Marina Chapman goes back to 1954, when she was kidnapped at just five years old from a remote South American village and later abandoned in the jungle.
She claims she was snatched from her back garden in Colombia and dumped in a rainforest – when a family of capuchin monkeys then took her under their wing.
Marina, now in her 70s, says she slept in a hollowed tree, lived on berries, roots and bananas, and moved around on all fours like her fellow mammals for five years.
She says she wasn’t given any special treatment by the animals and was reportedly left to scavenge for her own food.
But eventually, they adjusted to her and would endearingly pull lice out of her hair like she was one of them.
Marina paid special tribute to “grandpa monkey” for saving her life after she was poisoned by rotten fruit.
She was later captured by hunters but managed to completely re-integrate into human society and now lives in Yorkshire with her husband and two daughters.
Marina later wrote a book discussing the tales of her remarkable start in life titled The Girl with No Name.
Shamdeo – Raised by wolves
In 1972, a young boy named Shamdeo was found in a forest in India.
The youngster, believed to be around four years old, was living with wolves – even playing with the cubs, feeding and sleeping with them.
His teeth were terrifyingly sharpened to points to resemble that of his peers.
Shamdeo also had long hooked fingernails and matted hair, as well as calluses on the palms of his hands, elbows and knees from crawling around on all fours.
He reportedly enjoyed eating chickens and had become skilled at hunting for them – as well as developing a taste for blood.
Despite attempts to rehabilitate him, he never learned how to speak, but did learn some sign language.
He passed away in February 1985, 13 years after he was rescued.
Sujit Kumar – Locked in a chicken coop
Sujit Kumar was eight when he was discovered in Fiji in 1978.
He was found in the middle of the road clucking and flapping his arms like a chicken.
Throughout his childhood, his parents had horrifically locked him in a chicken coop, seeing him adopt the bird’s way of life.
Sujit is said to have learned to peck at his food and crouch on chairs as if he was roosting.
His mother committed suicide after his father was murdered and Sujit was left in the care of his grandfather, who cruelly continued to keep him confined with the chickens.
After being rescued, he was taken to an old people’s home where he became aggressive and so was repeatedly tied to a bed, where he remained for another 20 years.
Elizabeth Clayton then emancipated Sujit in 2002, before she set up a charity caring for children in need.
She said: “Sujit tried to bite me when I approached. When he did get fed, he tipped his mushy food onto the floor and pecked at it.”
He is now in an orphanage where he is learning to learn to walk, talk and eat.
Oxana Malaya – “Dog Girl”
Oxana Malaya was rescued from her dog kennel home in Ukraine in 1991 where she was kept with a pack of mongrels.
Her alcoholic parents had barbarically left her outside, forcing her to crawl into the kennel to seek warmth and shelter.
She became accustomed to running on all fours, panting with her tongue out and snarling and barking like her canine counterparts.
She was eight years old when she was found in 1991 and had been living with the dogs for the past six years.
Oxana miraculously was able to adjust to human life after her ordeal.
She is now narly 40-years-old and lives in a clinic in Odessa, a city in the south of Ukraine, where she helps with the hospital’s farm animals.
John Ssebunya – Raised by monkeys
John Ssebunya ran away from his Ugandan home in 1988 after witnessing his father murder his mother – and eventually found a family in a troop of monkeys.
He ran into the jungle where he stayed and was reportedly adopted by the vervet monkeys.
The boy managed to work his way into the brood by watching the primates and mimicking their behaviour.
He claims they taught him how to find food and climb trees in order to survive.
John was found in 1991 by a villager at the age of six and placed in an orphanage.
His adoptive father, Paul Wasswa, said: “He was wild.
“He had a lot of hair, which is apparently common in feral children. His knees had grown almost white, from walking on them.
“His nails had grown hugely, and curled around. We still don’t know, we can never know, how much time he really spent with the monkeys, but it certainly changed him.”
John has since learned to speak and even joined the Pearl of Africa children’s choir.
He even returned to the jungle to visit a group of vervet monkeys as part of a BBC documentary, where he proved was able to communicate with them.
Natasha Mikhailova – Brought up by cats and dogs
This little girl was harrowingly locked in a room for years on end with only her family’s cats and dogs for company.
Natasha Mikhailova was raised by the animals at her home in Chita, Russia, after being shunned by her relatives.
The youngster then began to adopt their behaviour after being starved of human contact.
She paced around on all fours, drank with her tongue and even barked like a dog.
Natasha – who is only the size of a toddler – was rescued by social services after years of neglect and being confined with the family pets.
They found her in ripped and soiled clothing surrounded by the animals.
One neighbour later said: “We didn’t know she existed. They have three vicious dogs they took for walks but we never saw this child.”
Natasha is said to have shunned other children after gaining her freedom and was placed in an orphanage where she received intense rehabilitation.
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