Girl Found Living With Monkeys in Indian Forest

I hope she ends up talking. I read some things about kids like these that if they were away from human interaction at too early an age they can never learn to talk because the synapses can't develope. That would mean she was lost to her family at a very early age. But if she does talk that means she's been around language and those synapses were able to form and she's just out of practice. Odds are better of finding her family. It's a good sign she responds to language though.




Feral children lack the basic social skills that are normally learned in the process of enculturation. For example, they may be unable to learn to use a toilet, have trouble learning to walk upright after walking on fours all their lives, or display a complete lack of interest in the human activity around them. They often seem mentally impaired and have almost insurmountable trouble learning a human language.^[1] The impaired ability to learn a natural language after having been isolated for so many years is often attributed to the existence of a critical period for language learning, and taken as evidence in favor of the critical period hypothesis.

morningsong said:

I hope she ends up talking. I read some things about kids like these that if they were away from human interaction at too early an age they can never learn to talk because the synapses can't develope. That would mean she was lost to her family at a very early age. But if she does talk that means she's been around language and those synapses were able to form and she's just out of practice. Odds are better of finding her family. It's a good sign she responds to language though.




Feral children lack the basic social skills that are normally learned in the process of enculturation. For example, they may be unable to learn to use a toilet, have trouble learning to walk upright after walking on fours all their lives, or display a complete lack of interest in the human activity around them. They often seem mentally impaired and have almost insurmountable trouble learning a human language.^[1] The impaired ability to learn a natural language after having been isolated for so many years is often attributed to the existence of a critical period for language learning, and taken as evidence in favor of the critical period hypothesis.

The fact that she seems to understand what she is being told is a great and a sign that she may remember language being taught and spoken to her. I thought the reaction of the monkeys was very interesting as well when they seemed to try and protect the girl against the people trying to retrieve her.

purplethunder3121 said:

morningsong said:

I hope she ends up talking. I read some things about kids like these that if they were away from human interaction at too early an age they can never learn to talk because the synapses can't develope. That would mean she was lost to her family at a very early age. But if she does talk that means she's been around language and those synapses were able to form and she's just out of practice. Odds are better of finding her family. It's a good sign she responds to language though.




Feral children lack the basic social skills that are normally learned in the process of enculturation. For example, they may be unable to learn to use a toilet, have trouble learning to walk upright after walking on fours all their lives, or display a complete lack of interest in the human activity around them. They often seem mentally impaired and have almost insurmountable trouble learning a human language.^[1] The impaired ability to learn a natural language after having been isolated for so many years is often attributed to the existence of a critical period for language learning, and taken as evidence in favor of the critical period hypothesis.

The fact that she seems to understand what she is being told is a great and a sign that she may remember language being taught and spoken to her. I thought the reaction of the monkeys was very interesting as well when they seemed to try and protect the girl against the people trying to retrieve her.

Animals can be most caring, but she needs people to survive long term. I don't think we'll get a Tarzan in such situations.

Check out Snopes, this is just one of a few versions of this story. Most likely the girl was abandoned because she was disabled.

JP Singh said the girl was actually found on a roadside near the forest, not deep in the wilderness. And though there were monkeys in her vicinity, his rangers “never found this girl living with monkeys,” he said.

“I think the family members of this girl had been aware that she is not able to speak, and they may have abandoned her near the forest road,” he said. “If she was living with monkeys it would have been for a few days only, not for a long time.

“It is clear from first time view, if you see the girl, that she is only eight or nine years old, but her facial expressions show that she is disabled, not only mentally but also physically,” he said.

The forest is closely monitored by rangers and CCTV, and it was unlikely she could have survived in the wilderness for long without being spotted, he added.

poor child