The Gazelle Boy

In the 1960’s, Jean-Claude Auger, an anthropologist from the Basque country, was traveling alone across the Spanish Sahara (Rio de Oro) when he found a boy in the midst of a herd of gazelles. The boy ran so fast that he was only caught with the help of an Iraqi army jeep. Although terribly thin, he was said to have been extremely fit and strong, with muscles of steel. The boy walked on all fours, but occasionally assumed an upright gait, suggesting to Auger that he was abandoned or lost at about seven or eight months, having already learned to stand. He habitually twitched his muscles, scalp, nose, and ears, much like the rest of the herd, in response to the slightest noise. Unlike most of the feral children of whom we have records, the gazelle boy was never removed from his wild companions.