Being a kid can be tough sometimes…so you’d think being a kid raised by wild animals would be really really tough. But the world (of fiction) is full of examples of children who spent their formative years under the tender love and care of some pretty unusual parents…as in parents who may or may not have opposable thumbs, possibly four legs, in some case fur, in others tails and well…you get the picture. But did any of these children use the fact that they were raised by animals get them down or use it as an excuse for getting out of chores? Not at all! In fact some of them went to found world class cities as anyone familar with the early history of Rome can attest to.
In The Tale-Teller, it doesn’t take long for the main character Esther Brandeau to flex her imaginative story telling muscle…and boy does she start off with a doozie. It turns out that after getting shipwrecked on a tropical island at a very young age she forms a strong bond with the native inhabitants – who just happen to be apes. If you’ve seen King Kong you’ll know that apes can be very tender when they want to be and these nurturing primates see Esther pass through her early years unscathed and well loved.
Long before Esther’s tale of her adopted simian parents kept her hosts spellbound in New France, literature and myth has shown many precedents to this sort of unorthodox child/caretaker coupling.
As mentioned earlier, Rome got its start this way so if you’ve wandered down the ancient streets of the Italian capital you can thank an animal nanny – a wolf to be precise (with the help of a woodpecker!) for raising brothers Romulus and Remus. For without Romulus there would be no Rome (although his brother Remus- might argue that without Romulus he may have founded a city of his own—Reme? Remo? Instead of falling a victim of fratricide)
Most readers will be at least passingly familiar with the Edgar Rice Burroughs’ early 20th Century adventures of John Clayton better known as Tarzan of the Apes. Like Esther, Tarzan was marooned and raised quite successfully by apes (or Mangani as Burroughs call them). They taught him all the essentials of jungle survival – vine swinging, social grooming, giving the famous Tarzan Yell etc. He thrived in the West African forests and went on to become king of the apes before giving up his feral ways and leaving the jungle behind many years later none the worse for wear apart from a touch of culture shock.
Inspiring Burroughs, and rivaling Tarzan as the preminent fictional character raised by animals would have to be in my opinion – The Jungle Book’s Mowgli. Rudyard Kipling’s world is based in India and like Romulus, Mowgli was raised by wolves. Under the tutelage of a variety of very helpful furry (and scaled) friends such as Baloo the Bear, Bagheera the black panther and Kaa the python, Mowgli learns the law of the jungle and all the ins and outs of avoiding that darned trouble making tiger Shere Khan.
Other children from literature who had animal instructon include the ancient Endiko from The Epic of Gilgamesh. His wild upbringing did not prevent him from becoming the right hand man of King of Uruk. Then there is Zal, the main hero of the national poem of Iran– Shahnameh who at one point was cared for by a mythical winged creature which resembles a large bird. 
Rounding out this incomplete list of feral children is Julie…she of the temporarily wolf reared. In Jean Craighead George’s Newberry Award winning (it also holds down the number 32 spot in the American Library Association’s list of most frequently challenged books) Julie of the Wolves. Julie (or Miyax which is her Inuit name) gets lost in Alaska and takes up residence with a group of wolves which show her the ropes to living a rugged (to say the least) outdoorsy lifestyle.
So we have a whole host of helpful animal friends ready to lend a paw to the assortment of human foundlings who have (sometimes literally) washed upon their shores. There are apes as in the case of Esther and Tarzan, wolves helped out Romulus and Julie, a large bird saved Zal, a panther, bear and snake brought Mowgli up to speed on the law of the jungle and at the end of the day, none of the kids were poorer for the experience (I’m pretty sure these mammalian caretakers weren’t helicopter parents stressing over their charges being hurt on the playground swings)
Personally speaking, I think Esther and Tarzan had it the best. If you need convincing, try watching the film Gorillas in the Mist or read Dian Fossey or Jane Goodall describe their amazing experiences with primates (just don’t let Planet of the Apes movies cloud your judgment!)
