Raised by wolves - maximize chance of success [closed]

Question

There appears to be little credible evidence to support the plausibility of a human being raised by wolves. Even if such cases exist, there would be major issues in the development of said human such as enculturation.

Leaving that aside, suppose our goal is merely to give the scenario its best chance at succeeding. I would be curious to learn if the preparations would take the form of trial and error or if there is anything in existing domestication of animals that has any overlap for this task.

Question

If a group of scientists were given an unlimited timeframe to achieve the feral upbringing of a human, what process/resources would likely be required and why?

Further clarifications:

• Quality metric is long-term success: If the first few generations of humans wind up being gobbled up by the wolves, this is acceptable so long as the study make progress towards viability in later iterations
• As such, the study is allowed to run for as long as it needs and is allowed to span the tenure of multiple research teams.
• Success is simply determined by if the child can still be alive after a few years, say at least two. Mental / physical deficiencies can just be assumed out of scope.
• Ideally, the wolf would be at least somewhat feral. Outright domestication is not preferred.

Configurables (these are the variables you can tweak if it helps you maximize success rate):

• Species of wolf

• Geographic location

• Age of wolf/human at adoption

• Budget (unlimited budget)

Answer 1

It can't be done in the way of legends with babies being suckled by a wolf.

Wolves don't produce more milk than needed for their pups and they only lactate for about 3 months.

If the child was older it could survive on raw meat for a while assuming it had a supply of it which included plenty of fat. But raw meat has many dangers and it's unlikely that a raw meat diet is sustainable long term without other foods. If the child ate the organs it would give them a better chance for a while, but I doubt 2 years is possible.

Another problem is that raw meat isn't easy to eat. We don't have the dental apparatus for it.

So your best bet is a child who knows what fruit are and a habitat with lots of fruit and berries they can supplement their diet with.

Answer 2

The Wolf-U-Bator(tm) is a translational research spin-off from the Black Tower project. Scientists are developing procedures to 3D print every type of organ from stem cells with defined epigenetic regulatory cartridges added to a base embryonic stem cell line. The goal is to create a reliable replacement organ accurately reproducing a specific individual on demand. (i.e. Kim Jung Un, who was so honored after his attack on San Francisco. The Tower, standing 1.5 miles high over the ruins of the city and ever-growing, its research dedicated to the goal of prolonging his torture "until the stars pass from the sky", is now regarded as the sole holy site of humanity)

The Wolf-U-Bator was one of the experimental prototypes (others targeted cows, pigs, and chimpanzees). The printed organs corresponding to a single wolf were connected via a complex network of blood and lymphatic circulators and electroneural interfaces, until the entire body of the wolf had been assembled and were available for ongoing study in a space the size of a high school gymnasium.

This was followed with further experimentation - swapping one species for another in the network, systematically replacing or concealing all serum proteins and blood antigens. This served secondary research goals, such as developing xenotransplantation protocols that work between arbitrary pairs of animals. Additionally, the decision was made to test human organs in the network, these being manufactured based on data from several Kim family members. Once nanopore antibody pickers had been invented, the availability of sessile bacterial expression systems capable of generating regulated amounts of biomimetic human proteins made this simpler than one would think - out with the old proteins, in with the new proteins.

The project occasionally assembled full models, such as the famous Wolftuar slave troop. Its technology helped inform the main human organ printing project, which generated many of the Kim clones presented for the spring execution festival. However, it remains sadly lacking in the most important aspect, which is replicating the original neural activity patterns. The project failed to fully replicate the complex connections between sectors of the brain, and the organisms on assembly were incapable of normal behavior except when the entire brain was grown en bloc in a very primitive fashion. For this reason what had been intended to be a "Ship of Theseus" program to sustain involuntary personal immortality has now degenerated in essentially sequential cloning regime. This creates public displays that are highly popular, but it is profoundly unsatisfactory at the philosophical level. It would disrupt the faith of many were its shortcomings to be widely discussed.

Answer 3

This should be easy enough feral children happened often enough in nature that it should be easy.

1. Get a large dog. Technically dogs and wolves are the same species, but a human raised dog is much more likely to see a human child as family and not food or a threat.

2. Age 6 months to 2 years. The child must be young enough to adapt to being in a pack. Yet old enough that it can provide for itself with a little help from the pack. The oldest feral child I know of was 2 years old when adopted so that's the latest. At the very least though it needs to get around on it's on so 6 months is the earliest.

3. Location a lab were you can control every aspect of the environment.

4. Budget: enough for food and medical bills for the child and dogs.