The Real-Life Jungle Book

Have you ever read The Jungle Book or seen the movie? I actually just watched it last week, and my number one question after watching the movie is (and this is a slight spoiler alert) how on earth could a grizzly bear, a panther, and a whole pack of wolves struggle to take down one tiger? I mean, later in the story, the kid basically takes down the tiger himself while on a boat!

Regardless, the story is pretty interesting: a human child is left in the jungle, gets raised by all sorts of different animals, and learns to speak their language. But did you know that the idea of a child being raised by animals, a so-called “feral child” or “man-cub,” isn’t as far-fetched as you might think? The phenomenon has been documented throughout history.

Here are some real-life cases of children who were discovered after being raised in the wild by animals.

1. The Wolf Girls of India

This is arguably the most famous and most controversial story of feral children: Kamala and Amala, also known as the wolf girls of Midnapore, India. In 1920, two young girls were discovered in a wolf’s den. The older girl, Kamala, was about eight, and the younger one, Amala, was about one and a half.

When they were found, the impact of their upbringing was undeniable. They were naked and would eat only raw meat, and I’m not talking about rare steak, but the kind of meat that was barely prepared. They walked on all fours instead of their legs and were noted to have heightened senses of smell and hearing, much like their wolf companions. The girls were taken in by a local minister, but tragically, Amala soon got sick and died. Kamala slowly underwent rehabilitation and eventually lived in an orphanage.

2. The Boy Raised by Chickens

Sujit Kumar has a truly tragic tale from Fiji in the late 1970s. He suffered from extreme neglect and emotional trauma. After his mother committed suicide and his father passed away, he was locked up in a chicken coop by his grandfather. When he was eight, he was found in public clucking, flapping his arms like wings, pecking at his food, and crouching as if he was roosting. He only communicated via clicking sounds.

His story was eventually brought to the world’s attention by Elizabeth Clayton, who found him later in life, having been tied to his bed for 20 years after he was randomly found one night and brought in for rehabilitation.

3. The Boy Raised by Monkeys

In 1988, in Uganda, a young boy named John witnessed his father murder his mother when he was only two or three years old. He ran away from home and was miraculously cared for by African green vervet monkeys in the wild, who protected him and helped him survive. The area was engaged in a bloody civil war, meaning not many humans ventured into the jungle.

When he was finally found in 1991, John’s knees were badly calloused and scarred from traveling on all fours. He was also suffering from hypertrichosis, a condition characterized by excessive body hair. John’s condition has improved dramatically since then. He even developed a fantastic singing voice and has traveled with the Pearl of Africa’s Church Choir. Amazingly, John can still communicate with monkeys, and his story has been told in many documentaries worldwide.

4. The Girl Raised by Dogs

This is a particularly troubling account. In 2009, a young girl named Natasha was discovered in a small, dirty apartment in Siberia. She was found in torn, soiled clothing, locked up with several cats and dogs. She mimicked their behavior, walking on all fours, refusing to use utensils, lapping up food from a bowl, and barking. She was reportedly treated as a human family pet by her father and grandparents, who also lived in the apartment.

Her father and mother were arrested and faced up to three years in prison, which seems like a very small amount of time for the horrific treatment this girl endured.

5. The Real-Life Jungle Girl

Rochom P’ngieng was discovered in the Cambodian jungle in 2007 after spending 19 whole years there. I don’t think I could last 19 hours! She had gotten lost while herding buffalo at the edge of the jungle when she was young and was supposedly raised by various animals.

When she was found, she only knew three words: mother, father, and stomach ache, along with simple hand gestures. She was captured while trying to steal rice in a local village, where police described her as “half-human and half-animal.” She crawled instead of walking, refused any clothing, and was never fully able to adapt to human society.

Eventually, she escaped back to the jungle and has never been found since. This might actually be a good thing, as her supposed father recognized her from scars on her arms and legs, which suggests she may have been facing abuse where her limbs were often tied up.

6. Gazelle Boy

According to anthropologist Jean-Claude Auger, he witnessed a boy galloping with a herd of gazelles while traveling across the Spanish Sahara. The boy walked on all fours and ate grass and roots with his teeth, exhibiting all the traits of a gazelle. It was estimated that he had been abandoned when he was less than a year old.

Auger, along with the Spanish Army, captured the boy, no easy feat, as he could run up to 34 mph! Auger tried teaching the boy to speak and eat with utensils, but to no avail. The boy eventually escaped and was never seen again.

7. The Leopard Boy

In a report from The Times of India in 1912, a young boy near Assam, India, was stolen by a female leopard. The leopard did not eat him but instead raised him. When he was found three years later, the boy could run at incredible speeds on all fours, a position so familiar that his toes were even described as being at a right angle. He had very tough skin on his hands and feet, and when brought back to his village, he would seize small animals and rip them apart with his hands to eat them quickly.

Final Thoughts

Some of these stories are really sad, especially the ones involving neglect and mistreatment. Hurting a child is horrifying.

However, it is truly interesting what the human mind and body are capable of. Put under radically different habitats, humans are clearly able to adapt and even obtain what we would consider superhuman, animal-like abilities.

I also wonder if it’s even cruel to take a child who has fully adapted to living in the wild, like the Gazelle Boy or the girl who escaped back to the jungle, and force them back into human society, especially if they weren’t suffering abuse at home.

If you grew up in the jungle, raised by a pack of wolves or something, and that was all you knew, would you want to come back to human society?