Oxana Malaya
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Oxana Malaya (born 1983) was found as an 8-year-old feral child in the Ukraine in the early 1990s, having lived most of her life in the company of dogs. She picked up a number of dog-like habits and found it difficult to master language. She has lived in a home for the disabled since her discovery.
Oxana's alcoholic parents were unable to care for her. They lived in an impoverished area where there were wild dogs roaming the streets. She lived in a dog kennel behind her house where she was cared for by dogs and learned their behaviours and mannerisms. She growled, barked and crouched like a wild dog, smelled her food before she ate it, and was found to have acquired extremely acute senses of hearing, smell, and sight.
When she was discovered, Oxana found it difficult to acquire the social and emotional skills most people take for granted. She had been deprived of intellectual and social stimulation, and her only emotional support had come from the dogs she lived with. Oxana's lack of exposure to language in a social context made it very difficult for her to improve her language skills. Her brain had matured past the critical stages for language acquisition, so she missed the environmental triggers that make normal language development possible.
Today, Oxana can speak, and many of her behavior problems have been remedied. Whether she will be able to form strong relationships and feel part of any human community remains to be seen.
External link
- Oxana Malaya and other feral children at FeralChildren.com (http://www.feralchildren.com/en/showchild.php?ch=oxana)