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Full Of It #86 - Feral Children (Patreon)

Published:
2020-01-12 00:00:02
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Feral children are named so because of extended periods of time with little to no human contact, often having sought out the company of animals. Left to fend for themselves, they offer a rare insight into primitive human behaviours and open up a plethora of questions about how humans acquire communication and language skills. 

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Comments

Anonymous

My Brain: "feral chickens" who abandoned Little Peckers hens? REALITY: "feral children". No wonder I was confused when I pressed play XD

Sabrina Spunkman

I did my degree in university on Sign Language Linguistics and we did a lot of study around linguistics within feral children. They are often referred to as "the Forbidden Experiment", as they teach us a lot about language acquisition, but it would be completely unethical to ever intentionally deprive a child of language just for the sake of research. It's generally accepted that if a child isn't exposed to spoken/signed languages before puberty, they will never be able to understand language (i.e. that words can relate to real life objects/feeling/actions etc.) Even though some feral children (and chimps) can understand and use some basic words in sign language, they can't ever learn to form sentences or communicate in any meaningful way, beyond things like "food", "drink", "toilet", etc. Feral children also exhibit weird habits like hoarding liquids. For example, when Genie was moved to foster care, her bed was always surrounded by glasses of water, milk, etc.

Anonymous

My experience with foreign languages is the opposite to yours... I have a degree in French and German, having studied German since Year 7 and only picking up French in my first year of uni. I found it so much easier to get to grips with than German and it was my stronger language by the time I graduated. Language acquisition fascinates me and I can’t imagine how difficult it would have been for these kids, entering society having almost no understanding of human communication, let alone all of the other problems they would have faced. If you found yourself needing help in a foreign country you could probably make yourself understood at least a little bit, but imagine not even being able to use gestures or signs to convey the most basic of things...

andi with an eye

my parents are South American and spoke Spanish to us at home, for the most part, and my sister and I spoke English back. but when I was young, maybe about 8yrs old, I remember keeping my mum company while she was ironing by getting my story books and reading it to her but in Spanish. I remember being able to quickly read the words and translating them back. as the years went on I didn't speak it much but was able to quickly recognise the Spanish for any Spanish word because I was constantly hearing my parents speak day to day. since moving out, this ability has faded away as time went by as I'm not hearing it all the time and my ability to know a Spanish word for an English word is a bit laboured now. I'm sure if I visit South America or any other Spanish-speaking country it will quickly return within a few days

Anonymous

60 Minutes Australia. You’re thinking of either Liz Hayes or Tara Brown.

Nigeria Dawson

I don’t know if it’s just my phone but the audio went a bit funny xx

Anonymous
>>31031850

Not your phone. Seems to happen in quite a few episodes and Olympia has spoken about it.

Anonymous

I can remember back in primary schoöl there was somebody in my class who acted like a praying mantis all the bloody time. And by all the time I mean allll the time. You couldn't converse with him because he'd act like he couldn't understand what you were saying. As the years went on I found out he had a pretty awful upbringing and childhood and that he used his fascination for praying mantises as a distraction. Not necessarily a feral child but it just shows how crucial a good upbringing is, because it led to him being dubbed "bug boy" "mantis boy" etc, and he wasn't very liked. All because he wasn't given the support he deserved as a kid. Sorry if the English in this paragraph is confusing by the way.

Anonymous
>>31037184

In reading this paragraph again I've discovered the random umlaut in "school". ooops

Ginny

I think it depends a LOT on how much the parents talk to the child, or if the child has older siblings. My sister's had 4 siblings around since her birth/1 year of age, 2 parents and a step-parent. We all interacted with her a lot and by the age of 2.5 she could count up to over a hundred, she could point out countries on the map, she could write basic words when she was like 3.5. But Oxana's parents probably didn't spend much of her first 3 years of life reading to her and stuff so I'm not rly sure how well her speech could have been developed by her age of 3. It's kinda major to see her on TV putting together sentences and all.

Morgan Nyhan

The concept of devolution is so incredibly scary. Like it highlights however advanced humanity gets we are still animals.

ThatsSoHaydn

I think I’m in the minority of Patreons who prefer your FOI episodes which aren’t creepy and are about stuff like how shit Steps were or something. I don’t get grossed out at things like murder or blood but for some reason, something about cannibalism just makes me physically sick and I hate even thinking about the concept. I’m assuming you’ll record your next episode before Dragcon Uk so I’ll say you and Nova have a great time puffins and sell the shit out of that merch! (Really want that tee though 👀)

Anonymous

LOL. Must be potty. Or else the abominable squatty potty wouldn’t exist

Anonymous

Training shitter...... OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm cackling.

Anonymous

Mum here, although my baby is 21 now! But I'm also the eldest of four siblings, and a gaggle of cousins, and have several nieces and nephews so I have seen a lot of children learn how to walk and talk! I can firmly say that they have all been very different! Most babies will start by pulling themselves up against something - like the sofa and learn that their legs can hold them up. Then they will start to move along the sofa, before learning to let go and stand without help. This will progress to them taking steps, often falling down, but they can then get back up. It's all a process, trial and error, strength and confidence! Yes, walking between two people to encourage them to walk is a thing, as are baby walkers (those round things on wheels!), and those bouncy thingys you hang in doorframes. I also would hold my sons hands and walk behind him - him looking like a chimp (that's the only way I can describe it!), but I have heard that's not a good thing to do for babies, but hey he's 21 so it's all good! My twin nephews (10mths) are currently at the standing up stage, but not yet walking. However, they can't stand without holding onto something or someone. But they will soon I'm sure of it. Yet at 10mths my niece (their sister) was walking. As for talking, well he was a late speaker, which is quite common for boys. I would talk to him and read to him etc, and that's essentially how they will learn. I would say to him "say mama" or whatever, as parroting is another way they learn. My other nephew is also a late speaker he's 2 and only really starting now. I said "for fucks sake" around him the other week and he decided to say it back. Much to mine and my sister's hilarity. But no more swearing round that one! Whereas prodigy niece from earlier (ha!) was talking at 10 mths and I could have little conversations with her by the time she was 1! There is something to said about nature vs nurture for sure when it comes to child development. And also these stories of feral children are so sad as it is child abuse :( Also, regarding moving like an animal, have you seen that video of kids being ponies and jumping over those rack things. There are actual competitions for it! Saw it on FB and it looks so fucking weird!!

OtterScope

Thanks for a great podcast Olympia! I watched the Oxana Malaya video on YouTube - OMG so freaky!! Anyway, on the subject of missing people stories, have you heard about the mysterious death of Gareth Williams, the 31-year old GCHQ genius mathematician codebreaker, who had a secret double life (allegedly as a transvestite), and was found dead in a padlocked sports bag in the bath in his rented flat in London, 20 years ago. The key to the padlock was inside the bag! His killer was never found and it was concluded that he’d locked himself in the bag himself and it was some sort of sex act gone wrong!!!! So much mystery you would cream your jeans!! xx

FrannyMac

Olympia recording themselves barking? This is the quality Patreon content I have come to expect 😂

Tommy

The term “feral children” is surprisingly new to me, so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from this podcast. Super interesting though, particularly gaining understanding of how humans behave when in an environment without other humans. Makes me wonder how someone would behave if they were raised around other animals. Also, I youtube’d Oxana and originally it’s a little funny seeing this girl barking etc but then it hit home what I was watching and it really got to me how sad this is. I really felt for her and thought it was admirable how well she welcomed her father and half sister at the end. Makes me wonder if that compassion is something she learned from the dogs or is an instinctive human reaction

Anonymous

During my psychology a level we studied Genie and Oxana and the videos of them used to be a morbid fascination of mine. Just the concept that someone would neglect a child enough to cause such behaviour was so horrifying to me but I used to google them all the time. This was about 8 years ago now and I haven’t thought about either of them for years but I wouldn’t mind looking up some documentaries about Genie in particular. Anyway, Olympia, happy new year and have a lovely week. Xxx OH! And public thank you to Millicent C for my secret Santa gift and you’re welcome to Franny Mac, I’m so pleased you liked yours ☺️

Anonymous

Language acquisition is based on exposure and experience - I’m currently working on a masters in speech-language pathology and after 6 years of language speech and cognition acquisition classes - and assuming that these feral children were at least typically developing children without congenital disabilities - we know that once they were born they missed out on all the phonological awareness skills that are required for developing language and literacy- phonological awareness is a skill that starts developing at birth and continues until the child is school aged- this is what allows them to recognize that letters have meanings- different combinations of letters have different meanings- and different letters have different sounds- and that these sounds also have meaning- all of these skills require interaction with caregivers and visual and auditory stimulation which feral children never received- without without exposure to phonological awareness by school age- language and literacy development is stunted tremendously. Plus imagine all of the psychological trauma at play preventing these kids from being able to attend to stimuli to actually be able to retain any new skills! We are fortunate there are fewer and fewer cases of feral children as time goes on but the case studies that exist on previous children are extremely interesting from a pathology standpoint!

Anonymous

hello Olympia:) I speak Greek and English (barely:P) Apparently, my first words were spoken at the age of nine months. I didn't start walking, however, until I was three. There was nothing physically wrong with me - it was just what happened. My son was very different. He didn't start walking until he was 17 months - I didn't put him into one of those walking frame things at all. It just happened. His speech was the problem - and as a mum, I didn't want to face the fact that his development was going to be halted. I remember arguing with people - I would tell them to butt out. Sadly they were right.

Anonymous

“That Emma Roberts character that she can only do” 😂🤣 Loved that