http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25102983

The first time Marcos Rodriguez Pantoja sat in front of a bowl of soup, he didn't know what to do. He looked carefully, cupped his hand and plunged it into the bowl. The contact with the boiling liquid made him jump and the plate ended up in little pieces on the floor.

It was 1965 and he was 19, but he hadn't sat down at a table to eat since he was a small child. He had been living for up to 12 years alone in the mountains with only wolves, goats, snakes and other animals for company.

One of these stories turns up every few years (several quoted in the link). Is this possible?

There was one story in the Daily Mail about a South American woman who was brought up by monkeys in Colombia.

I actually like to believe these stories, they are more touching than the horrible ones like the daughter in Austria in locked up by her father for 25 years.

I think all animal-lovers (and from our names/avatars I suppose both of us come in that category) like to believe these stories, but unfortunately wishful thinking does not make them true.

I have a fairly open mind on the subject. We can see from our own pet and domestic animals that adults will readily adopt young of a different species..... and it's the attribute cuckoos trade on!.... but whether this can happen with a top-rank carnivore I am less confident. Monkeys, no problem; they would see a human infant as a rather weird monkey.

Is it possible? Perhaps yes.

He was relatively old (7) when he was alone. He could well have had the survival skills to live alone in the mountains. There are plenty of children younger who survive on their own as street children in big cities across the world. It's not that dissimilar - just in a rural environment.

It's not like the (less credible) tales of babies being adopted as babies by wolves. He doesn't claim that he was raised by wolves, merely that a mother wolf gave him some meat after she'd fed her own offspring. Experience with dogs shows that they can view human beings as part of their "pack". He was merely the lowest ranking wolf in this pack, so fed last.

In some ways the adoption of a baby seems more likely. Whether it would survive is another question. I think the wolf would get a bit tired of the baby being so slow to develop, and anyway she would stop giving milk.

By the age of seven, surely the child would be seen as prey. It would certainly be big enough. The comparison with dogs is tempting, but in my opinion specious (unless you are talking about wild dogs). Domesticated or semi-domesticated dogs have a familiarity, personal or ancestral, with humans as a friendly species (?related in a dog's mind).

In some ways the adoption of a baby seems more likely. Whether it would survive is another question. I think the wolf would get a bit tired of the baby being so slow to develop, and anyway she would stop giving milk.

By the age of seven, surely the child would be seen as prey. It would certainly be big enough. The comparison with dogs is tempting, but in my opinion specious (unless you are talking about wild dogs). Domesticated or semi-domesticated dogs have a familiarity, personal or ancestral, with humans as a friendly species (?related in a dog's mind).

I read recently the modern dog is closely related to the European wolf, which was believed to have been domesticated first in Europe some 18,000 years ago. And tales of people being brought up by wolves date back to Romulus and Remus. Is it unreasonable to speculate that though slow to develop a human could gain acceptance for some ability humans possess that wolves do not.

So called 'jungle babies' are well documented.