Photographic Recreations of True Feral Children

feral children of the world

Sujit Kumar (the chicken boy), Fiji, 1978
Kept in a chicken coop by his family until the age of 8, Sujit Kumar clucked, pecked at food, and roosted like a bird

The stories behind the photographs aren’t pretty. They’re weird, terrifying, and often disturbing. But photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten does a great job creating beautifully lit scenes to pay homage to these strange stories. Like Sujit Jumar, trapped in a chicken coop for so long, he pecked like a chicken and ‘roosted’ at night. Descriptions and images via DesignBoom:

feral children of the world

Lobo wolf girl, Mexico, 1845/1852
Seen in Mexico running on all fours with a pack of wolves, attacking a herd of goats

 

feral children of the world

Prava (the bird boy), Russia, 2008
confined to a room containing dozens of his mother’s pet birds, Prava could not speak when found, only chirp

 

 

 

feral children of the world

Kamala and Amala, India, 1920
aged 8 and 1 respectively, the pair were found living in a cave with wolves
running on all fours, the pair were physically deformed and had exceptional hearing, sight and sense of smell

feral children of the world

Rochom P’ngien (jungle girl), Cambodia, 2007
Rochom was caught at the age of 27 having been missing for 19 years. She walked on all fours and could not speak

feral children of the world

Madina, Russia, 2013
Lived with dogs until the age of three; when found she walked on all fours and growled

feral children of the world

Oxana Malaya, Ukraine, 1991
Lived with dogs in a kennel for 6 years, when found she panted, bared her teeth, ran on all fours and barked

feral children of the world

John Ssebunya (the monkey boy), 1991
living with monkeys for 3 years, John survived until the age of 6 on roots and nuts before he was found

feral children of the world

Ivan Mishukov, Russia, 1998
After running away at the age of four, Ivan lived for two years with a pack of dogs. He now leads a normal life