Girls (and Boys) Gone Wild!

January 19, 2007 9:32 PM

Romulus and Remusare the most famous, and Rochom P'ngieng is the most recent addition to the roster of children believed to be raised by animals (via, and previously).
posted by Kibbutz (14 comments total)

I just read the Genie story on the FeralChildren site, and I'm in shock.
posted by exlotuseater at 9:43 PM on January 19, 2007

Naah; Tarzan is the most famous.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 9:44 PM on January 19, 2007

Don't forgot Mowgli.
posted by spock at 9:47 PM on January 19, 2007

The Rochom P'ngieng link is useless. The "raised by animals" link, though, is a treasure trove of information on this multifaceted topic.
posted by kozad at 9:57 PM on January 19, 2007

We are sick of raising your young.
posted by echolalia67 at 9:58 PM on January 19, 2007

Well then, kozad--you'll probably want to spend some time hanging around the FeralChildren Forum, currently being moderated by "Bjorn" and (heh heh) "Kitty."
posted by Kibbutz at 10:10 PM on January 19, 2007

Wot, no Evil Roy Slade?
posted by Pinback at 10:21 PM on January 19, 2007

"What, were you raised by wolves?"
"Yes, I was. Hmph."
posted by Smart Dalek at 10:44 PM on January 19, 2007

Feral children? Yes, I fear all children.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:13 AM on January 20, 2007

For some reason or other, at the Birmingham (Alabama, not England) Public Library, there was a prominently displayed reproduction of the Romulus and Remus sculpture that appears in the Wikipedia page you've linked to. I remember seeing that at the library, as a youngster, and thinking how strange it was: a very odd and somewhat disturbing image for a very young child.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:38 AM on January 20, 2007

Warning: self-link, hope it's OK:

My co-author has treated several feral children-- our new book
The Boy Who Was Raised as A Dog and Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook includes the case of a toddler who was kept in a kennel by a dog breeder with his dogs for most of his early childhood.

Because severe early neglect and abuse produces behaviors that appear "animal-like" (very visibly sniffing everything, for example), it's actually difficult to tell whether such behaviors are related to copying animals a child is "raised by" or whether they are responses to the neglect itself.
posted by Maias at 5:45 AM on January 20, 2007

After reading the wikipedia article on Romulus and Remus, it occured to me that the greek mythological anthologies that i'd read as a child heavily omitted details such as Mars raping random virginal priestesses.

Just my two cents worth.
posted by thedak at 8:57 AM on January 20, 2007

It brings to mind this documentary on feral children. It focuses mostly on this Eastern European girl who was essentially raised by dogs until she was about 13 or so.

Interesting stuff, though kinda sad.
posted by champthom at 9:52 AM on January 20, 2007

If I was going to be raised by animals, I think I'd want to to be raised by a rhinoceros. Just because when I finally entered human society, it would be so cool to charge people and ram them with my head when I got mad.
posted by quin at 11:38 AM on January 20, 2007