Raised By Wolves

For an entire twelve years, Marcos Rodríguez Pantoja lived with wolves in the Cordoba province of Spain.  At the age of nineteen, was discovered by the Civil Guard and was taken back to modern civilization.  However, even at the age of seventy two, he still has not entirely adjusted to living with humans.
 
Marcos lost his mother at the young age of three, and his father soon after left him to live with another woman in a different town. He was taken to the mountains to replace an old sheepherder, and was in charge of taking care of 300 sheep.  An old man taught him basic skills, but at eight hours old the sheepherder died, leaving Marcos all alone.
 
It is still not clear how he ended up in the mountains, but when he was found years later he had replaced language with animal-like sounds.  He even tried going back to the wolves, but things were never the same.  Marcos explains that if he calls out to them, they will respond, but will not approach him.
 
Marcos describes his happiest memories as being with the wolves, with the female that gave him motherly love and the cubs that took him in as family. They taught him survival methods in the wild.
 
His life completely fell apart when he was found by the Civil Guards. He was laughed at for having such little knowledge and was cheated and abused by other men.
 
Despite his disappointment with this new lifestyle, he appreciates some of his accepting neighbors and loves telling kids about his passion for animals.  Marcos is one of the few known cases of humans raised by animals, completely away from civilization.
 

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