Human Behavior
“Nell” Assignment
Name_________________________
"Feral" means wild or existing in a natural state. Feral children are those who have been
abandoned or lost in the wilderness and have spent a significant amount of their formative years
there. These children have lived without any direct human contact and often with the aid of wild
animals that have adopted them into their groups. Though there are many legends of feral
children, only a few cases have been documented and verified. Over the centuries, stories of feral
children have intrigued many people - especially scientists and educators - for possible clues as
to the effect of socialization on language and communication skills, learned aspects of human
behavior and development and the true nature of humans. Studies of feral children have led to
new methods for teaching children with learning disabilities, and indirectly to the development of
Braille and sign language.
Feral children are NOT the same as autistic or mentally retarded children - both of these
conditions are due to aberrations of the normal biological developmental process. Children with
these conditions are usually fully socialized to the limits of their capabilities. On the other hand,
feral children may exhibit the usual range of biological developmental potential, but fail to develop
normal human communication skills as a result of growing up in social isolation without proper
models. Such skills are dependent upon continuous hearing, observation, mimicking and
reinforcement to develop properly. Therefore, it is not surprising that feral children do not acquire
these skills and rather that they may acquire those of their adoptive animal families during these
critical socialization years (see stories in links about children raised with dogs, apes, wolves).
This is due to the inherent plasticity of the nervous system in which, though many aspects of our
sensory and motor systems are "hard-wired," others (such as language and communication) are
more dependent on postnatal experience and the specific environment that infants are born into
to finish development and acquire the specific skills and behaviors necessary to survive and
compete in that environment. Depending on the age at which they are removed from human
contact and the age at which they are retrieved, feral children may not ever be able to develop
normal communication patterns because of the window in early childhood when the nervous
system is primed for acquiring language and communication skills.
Answer the following questions using the movie “Nell” as a reference.
1. At what age was the feral children separated from human contact?
2. During their social isolation, with whom (or what) did these children spend their formative
years with?
3. Did they develop "normal" human behaviors and language? If not, what or whom did
they pattern their language and behavior after?
4. How were these characters reintroduced to human contact?
5. Were they happy to be rescued? Explain
6. Was this an easy transition for them? Explain
7. Did they ever fit in totally? Explain
8. Did they ever wish to be back in their previous wild setting? Explain
9. What did they gain from human contact? Explain
10. What did they lose? Explain
11. Did THEY feel they were better off for regaining human contact? Explain
12. Do YOU feel they were better off? Explain
13. Does "wild" equate with "barbaric"? Explain
14. How about "civilized" with "noble"? Explain
15. Who were the barbaric characters and which side(s) (wild or civilized) were they on?
16. Who were the noble characters and which side(s) were they on?
17. What does it mean to be human?
18. Do you consider the feral characters to be human? Explain
19. Did other characters in the films question their human-ness? Explain
20. What insight does this movie give you on the nature vs. nurture debate?