From David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), p. 289:
"For several hundred years, cases have been reported of children who have been reared in the wild by animals or kept isolated from all social contact. These cases are listed below, adapted from Lucien Malson's Wolf Children (1972). Sometimes the information is based on little more than a brief press report. At other times, the cases have been studied in detail - in particular, the stories of Victor, Kaspar Hauser, Amala and Kamala, and Genie.
"The ideas of Psamtik I [an Egyptian king who, in the 7th century B.C.E., gave two new-born infants to the care of shepherds with the instructions that they should not be taught to speak, so as to observe which language they spoke first; he concluded from this experiment that the language of Phrygia (now in central Turkey) was the oldest human language -- the story is retold by Herodotus] receive no support at all from these children. Only some of the reports say anything about the children's language abilities, and the picture is quite clear: none could speak at all, and most had no comprehension of speech.
"Most attempts to teach them to speak failed. The cases of 1694, 1731, and 1767 (Fraumark) are said to have learned some speech, and Tomko of Hungary (also 1767) is reputed to have learned both Slovak and German. The 1717 girl and the 19th-century Bankipur child are both said to have learned some sign language. But of the well-attested cases, the results are not impressive. Victor, the 'Wild Boy of Aveyron', remained unable to speak, though he could understand and read to some extent. [The only words Victor ever learned to say were "lait" (milk) and "O Dieu" (O God), though he learned to read quite a number of words. Victor died in 1828, at approximately the age of 40, ten years before Dr. Itard. -- MKJ] Kamala of Midnapore learned some speech and sign. The two most successful cases on record are Kaspar Hauser, whose speech became quite advanced, and Genie, who learned a few words immediately after discovery, and whose subsequent progress in speech was considerable."
| Child known as... | Date of discovery | Age at discovery |
|---|---|---|
| Wolf-child of Hesse | 1344 | 7 |
| Wolf-child of Wetteravia | 1344 | 12 |
| Bear-child of Lithuania | 1661 | 12 |
| Sheep-child of Ireland | 1672 | 16 |
| Calf-child of Bamberg | cl680 | ? |
| Bear-child of Lithuania | 1694 | 10 |
| Bear-child of Lithuania | ? | 12 |
| Kidnapped Dutch girl | 1717 | 19 |
| Two boys of Pyrenees | 1719 | ? |
| Peter of Hanover | 1724 | 13 |
| Girl from Sogny | 1731 | 10 |
| Jean of Liège | ? | 21 |
| Tomko of Hungary | 1767 | ? |
| Bear-girl of Fraumark | 1767 | 18 |
| Victor of Aveyron | 1799 | 11 |
| Kaspar Hauser of Nuremberg | 1828 | 17 |
| Sow-girl of Salzburg | ? | 22 |
| Child of Husanpur | 1843 | ? |
| Child of Sultanpur | 1843 | ? |
| Child of Sultanpur | 1848 | ? |
| Child of Chupra | ? | ? |
| Child of Bankipur | ? | ? |
| Pig-boy of Holland | ? | ? |
| Wolf-child of Holland | ? | ? |
| Wolf-child of Sekandra | 1872 | 6 |
| Child of Sekandra | 1874 | 10 |
| Wolf-child of Kronstadt | ? | 23 |
| Child of Lucknow | 1876 | ? |
| Child of Jalpaiguri | 1892 | 8 |
| Child of Batsipur | 1893 | 14 |
| Child of Sultanpur | 1895 | ? |
| Snow-hen of Justedal | ? | 12 |
| Amala of Midnapore | 1920 | 2 |
| Kamala of Midnapore | 1920 | 8 |
| Leopard-child of India | 1920 | ? |
| Wolf-child of Maiwana | 1927 | ? |
| Wolf-child of Jhansi | 1933 | ? |
| Leopard-child of Dihungi | ? | 8 |
| Child of Casamance | 1930s | 16 |
| Assicia of Liberia | 1930s | ? |
| Confined child of Pennsylvania | 1938 | 6 |
| Confined child of Ohio | 1940 | ? |
| Gazelle-child of Syria | 1946 | ? |
| Child of New Delhi | 1954 | 12 |
| Gazelle-child of Mauritania | 1960 | ? |
| Ape-child of Teheran | 1961 | 14 |
| Genie, U .S .A. | 1970 | 13 ½ |
See Andrew Ward's website on feral children for additional links.