Strangers among their own: 7 Mowgli children raised in the wild

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Who among us is not familiar with Rudyard Kipling's touching story about "The Frog" Mowgli - a boy who grew up in the jungle? Even if you have not read The Jungle Book, you probably watched cartoons based on it. Alas, the real stories of children raised by animals are not as romantic and fabulous as the works of an English writer and do not always end with a happy ending …

To your attention - modern human cubs, who among their friends had neither the wise Kaa, nor the good-natured Baloo, nor the brave Akela, but their adventures will not leave you indifferent, because the prose of life is much more interesting and much more terrible than the work of even genius writers.

1. Ugandan boy adopted by monkeys

In 1988, 4-year-old John Ssebunya fled into the jungle after witnessing a terrible scene - during another quarrel between his parents, the father killed the baby's mother. As time went on, John never left the forest and the villagers began to believe that the boy was dead.

In 1991, one of the local peasants, going into the jungle for firewood, suddenly saw in a flock of vervet, dwarf green monkeys, a strange creature, in which she recognized a little boy with some difficulty. According to her, the boy's behavior was not much different from the monkeys - he deftly moved on all fours and easily communicated with his "company".

The woman reported what she saw to the villagers and they tried to catch the boy. As often happens with educated animal children, John resisted in every possible way, not allowing himself to pull himself together, but the peasants still managed to recapture him from the monkeys. When the inmate of the vervettes was washed and put in order, one of the villagers recognized him as a fugitive who went missing in 1988.

Later, having learned to speak, John said that the monkeys taught him everything necessary for life in the jungle - climbing trees, finding food, in addition, he mastered their "language". Fortunately, after returning to people, John easily adapted to life in their society, he showed good vocal abilities and now the matured Ugandan Mowgli is touring with the Pearl of Africa children's choir.

2. A Chita girl who grew up among dogs …

Five years ago, this story appeared on the front pages of Russian and foreign newspapers - in Chita, they found a 5-year-old girl Natasha, who walked like a dog, lapped water from a bowl and, instead of articulate speech, published only barking, which is not surprising, because, as it turned out later, the girl spent almost her entire life in a locked room, in the company of cats and dogs.

The child's parents did not live together and set out different versions of what happened - the mother (I just want to put this word in quotation marks), 25-year-old Yana Mikhailova claimed that her father had stolen the girl from her long ago, after which she did not raise her. Father, 27-year-old Viktor Lozhkin, in turn, stated that the mother did not pay due attention to Natasha even before he took the baby to him at the request of his mother-in-law.

Later it was established that the family could not be called prosperous, in the apartment where, in addition to the girl, her father, grandmother and grandfather lived, there was terrible unsanitary conditions, there was no water, heat and gas.

When they found her, the girl behaved like a real dog - she rushed at people and barked. Taking Natasha away from her parents, the guardianship and guardianship authorities placed her in a rehabilitation center so that the girl could adapt to life in human society, her “loving” dad and mom were arrested.

3. Volgograd birdcage prisoner

The story of a Volgograd boy in 2008 shocked the entire Russian public. His own mother kept him locked up in a 2-room apartment inhabited by many birds.

For unknown reasons, the mother did not raise the child, giving him food, but completely without communicating with him. As a result, a boy up to seven years old spent all the time with the birds, when law enforcement officers found him, in response to their questions he only “chirped” and flapped his “wings”.

The room where he lived was filled with birdcages and just overflowing with droppings. According to eyewitnesses, the boy's mother clearly suffered from a mental disorder - she fed the street birds, took the birds home and lay on the bed all day listening to their tweets. She did not pay attention to her son at all, apparently considering him one of her pets.

When the relevant authorities learned about the "bird-boy", he was sent to a psychological rehabilitation center, and his 31-year-old mother was deprived of parental rights.

4. Little Argentinian rescued by stray cats

In 2008, police in the Argentine province of Misiones discovered a homeless toddler, one year old, who was in the company of wild cats. Apparently, the boy stayed in the company of felines for at least several days - the animals took care of him as best they could: they licked the dried mud from his skin, carried him food and warmed him on frosty winter nights.

A little later, I managed to find out the boy's father, who led a vagrant lifestyle - he told the police that he had lost his son a few days ago when he was collecting waste paper. Dad told the officers that wild cats always protected his son.

5. "Kaluga Mowgli"

2007th year, Kaluga region, Russia. Residents of one of the villages noticed a boy in the nearby forest, who looked about 10 years old. The child was in a pack of wolves, which apparently considered him "theirs" - together with them he earned food, running on bent legs.

Later, law enforcement officers raided the "Kaluga Mowgli" and found him in a wolf's den, after which he was sent to one of the Moscow clinics.

There was no limit to the surprise of the doctors - after examining the boy, they concluded that although he looked like a 10-year-old, in fact he should have been about 20 years old. From life in a wolf pack, the guy's toenails turned almost into claws, his teeth resembled fangs, his behavior in everything copied the habits of wolves.

The young man did not know how to speak, did not understand Russian and did not respond to the name Lyosha given to him upon capture, reacting only when his name was "kitty-kitty-kitty".

Unfortunately, the specialists failed to return the boy to normal life - just a day after he was admitted to the clinic, "Lyosha" escaped. His further fate is unknown.

6. Pupil of Rostov goats

In 2012, employees of the guardianship authorities of the Rostov region, having come with a check to one of the families, saw a terrible picture - 40-year-old Marina T. kept her 2-year-old son Sasha in a pen for goats, practically not caring about him, at the same time, when the child was found, the mother was not at home.

The boy spent all the time with the animals, played and slept with them, as a result, by the age of two he could not learn to speak and eat normally. Needless to say, the sanitary conditions in the two-by-three-meter room he shared with the horned "friends" didn't just leave much to be desired - they were appalling. Sasha was emaciated from malnutrition, when doctors examined him, it turned out that he weighed about a third less than healthy children of his age.

The boy was sent to rehabilitation and then to an orphanage. At first, when they tried to return him to human society, Sasha was very afraid of adults and refused to sleep in his bed, trying to get under it. A criminal case was opened against Marina T. under the article "Improper performance of parental duties", a claim was sent to the court to deprive her of her parental rights.

7. Adopted son of a Siberian dog

In one of the provincial districts of the Altai Territory in 2004, a 7-year-old boy was discovered who was raised by a dog. His own mother left little Andrei three months after his birth, entrusting the care of her son to an alcoholic father. Shortly thereafter, the parent also left the house where they lived, apparently without even remembering the child.

The boy's father and mother was a watchdog who fed Andrey and raised him in his own way. When social workers found him, the boy could not speak, walked only like a dog and was wary of people. He bit and carefully sniffed the food that was offered to him.

For a long time, the child could not be weaned from dog habits - in the orphanage he continued to behave aggressively, rushing at his peers. However, gradually the specialists managed to instill in him the skills of communication with gestures, Andrey learned to walk like a human being and use cutlery while eating.

The guard dog pupil is also accustomed to sleeping in bed and playing with a ball, attacks of aggression occurred less and less often and gradually faded away.