A feral child is a human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, and has little or no experience of human care, loving or social behavior, and lack human language. Feral children are confined by humans and brought up by animals or live in the wild in isolation.
There have been over a hundred cases of feral children reported, and possibly more that haven’t been discovered yet. One of the first famous feral child is Wild Peter. after being discovered he never really learned to talk except “Peter” and “King George”. He did have a great sense of smell and could hear very well. He climbed trees and lived off plants. Once he was found, he refused bread. He spent about 68 years in society and never really learned to communicate.
One example of a feral child that we should all be familiar with is Disney’s Tarzan. Tarzan was raised by gorillas in the jungle. He acted like a gorilla and couldn’t speak. He swung from trees like the other gorillas. The gorillas treated him as one of their own. As a child, I enjoyed watching Tarzan but I never really thought of it as a bad thing. The gorillas didn’t harm him and they took good care of him. Though, he did not have a normal life in society. After learning about feral children I found the story kinda sad. It makes you feel bad that he didn’t have a normal life.
It is really sad to me to think that children have been abandoned in the wild or their parents have isolated them. I do think it is incredible that some animals have nutured these children when ultimately they could have killed them at first. Instead these animals have raised the children the best they can and have thought them their instincts. the thing that really bothers me is that once these children are taken away, from what is now their environment, they are mainly studied by sociologists and psychologists and scientists. After what can be a very tramatic sitiuation these children need to be nutured. I feel bad for these children since they don’t really know how to show emotion and can’t speak to others about what the need or want. They seem to have it worse than babies since they can’t express this to other humans.
After learning about feral children it really made me appreciate my life and the education that I have received so far. I never thought I would be so thankful that I am able to speak and learn. I couldn’t imagine being raised by animals and learning their ways then trying to go back to human ways.
2008. 10 Modern Cases of Feral Children. Listverse.com.
Amber Williamson 
Chelsea Green
I had never heard of feral kids before class and I think it’s really interesting. It’s crazy how much socialization happens when we are young without us even realizing it. I also liked how you compared Tarzan with them to make it better understandable.
mmartin3
Before class I had only heard about ferral children a few times before in my life. I have never really thought about Tarzan as a ferral child but that is what he his and the young boy from the Jungle Book. It’s weird to imagine parents leaving their children out there by themselves jsut like you said. I have always wondered about why the animals never ate the children when they found them. But then that makes me think how many have gotten eaten because the parents leave the child, and that just makes me really sad. I think this blog was a great one , it made me think further about the ferral children and now I have a connection between ferral children and Tarzan. !! I love Disney so this is gonna be a great way to remember it. Thanks 🙂
samueldouglas123
Feral Children is one of the mysteries of this world that is difficult to reconcile. How can we as humans be capable of such inhumane acts? To leave our own to children without care, direction, or comfort? But at the same time this horrible issue shows how directly influenced we are by our surroundings and upbringings. A truly astounding and perplexing issue.
Breanna Miller
I have heard of feral children just a little bit in highschool, but we didn’t talk about it that much. When we talked about it in class and especially, watched the documentary, it was very interesting. It’s sad how these children have been left to fend for themselves and not having any direction at all. Basically, they grow up living a life like animals do. Good topic!
Samantha Nelson
I talked about feral children in psychology in high school.I think its fascinating the way the children pick up the characteristics generally associated with animals. I really enjoyed your blog.
Emily Pinerola
Feral children truly blow my mind. They do not know language or how to act in their normal society. They are socialized into very odd societies and act non-human. It is crazy how the children do not know they are not normal or have grown up in an environment that is not their own. This was a great blog- I want to learn more about them!