Are the legendary stories of wolf-raised children real? Researchers are still searching for answers to this mystery.
Have you ever wondered how a normal child, raised in isolation from the community and nurtured by animals, would develop?
Would this child look human but act like an animal? Despite many legends and hypotheses surrounding this issue, it remains a mystery that has captivated scientific inquiry.
Wild Children in Legend
Wild children raised by animals in the depths of the forest are common themes in many mythological stories worldwide. These children are often described as growing up without any human contact, instead learning unique survival instincts from wolves, lions, and bears. Consequently, they often lack basic communication skills characteristic of humans.
Many legends tell of wild children who have human forms but behave like wild animals…
Is their behavior a result of being raised by wild creatures in the forest?
The oldest story of wild children is recorded in Roman texts. It tells of two twin brothers – Romulus and Remus – who are said to have founded the great city of Rome.
These twins were heirs to the Alba Longa kingdom but were usurped and abandoned on the Tiber River. They were fortuitously rescued by a she-wolf, who not only fed them with her milk but also protected them.
Years later, shepherds stumbled upon the wolf’s den and quickly took the two unfortunate children back to the village, teaching them to speak and other general knowledge. Eventually, both gained health and quick wit, winning many loyal followers. Romulus founded the city of Rome, ascended to the throne, and swiftly established the great Roman Kingdom.
Discoveries of Wild Children
While the above story is well-known, no one has been able to verify its accuracy. However, throughout human history, the phenomenon of children being raised by wild animals is not too rare. A historical book from Germany recounts a remarkable boy discovered on July 27, 1724.
This 12-year-old boy was found by villagers in Hamelin (Germany) in a nearby forest, naked and walking on all fours. They named him Peter. Despite their efforts, they could not persuade him to eat bread or cereals; his preferred diet consisted solely of vegetables and water from tree trunks.
The character Tarzan is a vivid image of a wild child
In another story, an Indian pastor named Joseph Singh discovered a child in the deep forest in 1920. It was rumored that in the village of Midnapore, there was a strange creature that howled like a wolf, moved swiftly, was robust, and often attacked livestock… People believed it was a wolf that had transformed, so they sought the help of Pastor Joseph.
The pastor agreed, and that night he climbed a high tree to observe. From there, he saw two creatures crawling out of a den. Upon closer inspection, he realized that they were not spirits or transformed wolves but two children with furry faces, naked and walking on all fours.
Legends about wild children are abundant around the world
Upon returning, he and several others took the two children to an orphanage for care. Joseph named the elder Kamala and the younger Amala. Kamala and Amala behaved like wolves—they slept from morning until afternoon and became restless at night. Both drank water with their tongues, preferred raw meat, and were prepared to bite and threaten unfamiliar visitors.
Pastor Joseph made great efforts to teach the two children to adopt human habits, but Kamala and Amala could never live like ordinary humans. A year later, Amala passed away, while Kamala died eight years afterward. After years of training, Kamala could finally stand and articulate a few simple words.
Truth or Deception?
Over the centuries, stories of wild children have proliferated and become more popular. Yet for scientists, this concept remains highly controversial. The reason is that most wild child stories are either oral traditions or documented in non-scientific texts.
One of the most famous cases involves the sisters Kamala and Amala. The two girls were discovered being raised by a she-wolf in a forest in India during the 1920s, with Kamala being eight years old and Amala three.
It is said that when attempts were made to return the girls to human society, the she-wolf who had raised them fought fiercely to keep the children, just as a human would try to protect their child. It charged at the group, resulting in it being shot dead.
Yet the existence of wild children remains a mystery to humanity…
When the mother wolf died, other wolves in the pack returned to the village and howled loudly. Even later, the children could not remain calm whenever they heard the cries of the wolf pack.
The wild children were taken to the orphanage run by Pastor J. A. L. Singh—who was the first to witness the event and later tried to help the two wolf girls adapt to human life.
However, the two girls could never live like ordinary humans again. Kamala and Amala could only drink milk and eat raw meat, and they typically lived at night, howling like wolves.
After about a year in the orphanage, Amala passed away. When her sister died, Kamala showed her first signs of human-like emotions. Kamala lived for eight more years, during which she learned a few words and how to walk upright. However, she still often crawled on all fours whenever she felt anxious.
In a later interview, the clergyman stated that perhaps it would have been better if he had left the children in the wild, where he found them.
In 2008, Misha Defonseca—the author of the famous memoir “Misha: A Memoir of Holocaust Years”—admitted to fabricating her story about her escape from Nazi persecution. She revealed that the details of her journey after fleeing from the Nazi concentration camp were entirely fictional.
Misha vividly described her solitary escape, wandering over 3,000 kilometers through the dense forests and remote swamps of Europe for four years. She was trapped in a Polish Jewish ghetto, faced enemies, and even killed a Nazi. Later, she traveled with a pack of wild wolves to find shelter while searching for her parents.
When her work was first published, Misha insisted that her book was entirely true, which moved and impressed many people. Consequently, the number of copies sold soared, providing Misha with a substantial income.
However, this does not mean that humanity completely denies the existence of wild children; many researchers are still striving to uncover the truth behind this strange phenomenon. This is undoubtedly an intriguing mystery waiting for us to explore in the near future.
