Junge von Bamberg

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Joseph

Der Irische Schafsjunge

We have very little information about the Irish Sheep Boy. What there is comes from Tulp (Observationes Medicae) where he tells us that this boy resisted capture for some time (sounds familiar), and once caught and returned to human society he exhibited at least three tell-tale signs of the feral child: not wanting to change his diet (from grass and hay), enduring temperature extremes, and not wanting to stay among humans.

Did the Irish Sheep Boy live with sheep?

Tulp says this boy lived among wild sheep, although there is no evidence that there were any wild sheep in Ireland at that time. He was taken to Amsterdam when aged about 16, but Tulp isn't clear about what age he was captured.