RTVE<\/a> reported.\n <\/p>\n\n \u201cThey took me to the mountains, to a cave. A little old man with a beard came out wearing cork shoes,\u201d Pantoja told Manila in an interview, describing an initiation into a wilderness existence.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThere were howling wolves, foxes, mountain goats, deer, scorpions, snakes. At night, I heard these animals and I was afraid.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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\n The herder cared for Pantoja, keeping him warm with animal skins, teaching him to milk the goats, and how to hunt rabbits with a stick.\n <\/p>\n
\n Under the old man\u2019s tutelage, Pantoja learned \u201cthe law of the jungle,\u201d Manila wrote in his study.\n <\/p>\n
\n He understood he was different \u2013 \u201cespecially because he had hands\u201d \u2013 but still felt part of their community, Manila wrote. He mastered animal sounds, from birdsong to the cry of the deer, and believed he could communicate \u201ceffortlessly with foxes, wolves and even snakes.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n When the herder disappeared unexpectedly, Pantoja drew on the skills he had learned to survive on his own and gained the trust of a wolf pack by bringing food for their cubs and howling when he sensed danger.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI was crying and they jumped up at me\u2026 then they showed me the way to their cave, the wolf\u2019s den,\u201d Pantoja told Manila, describing the pups playing and jumping around as they greeted him.\n <\/p>\n
\n Pantoja avoided civilization, hiding whenever he heard human voices, until the Civil Guard found him, aged 19, \u201clost and alone, among the ravines,\u201d Manila wrote.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI was doing very well and I didn\u2019t know what money was but I never lacked food,\u201d Pantoja told RTVE news show Informe Semanal in 2010.\n <\/p>\n
![\"Sierra](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c-gettyimages-89454104.jpg\")
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\n \u201cIf I wanted to fish, I fished in the river. If I wanted a rabbit, I caught it. If I wanted a deer, I called to my parents who were the wolves. I let out a howl, I hid in the river and the wolves brought the cattle down to me.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Those who met Pantoja during the first months of his reintegration into society recalled his intelligence of nature and his \u201cwild character,\u201d Manila wrote in his study.\n <\/p>\n
\n The scholar noted his \u201ccomplete lack of awareness when it came to social life, his language difficulties \u2013 especially his lack of knowledge of the names of things \u2013 his strange gait, his naivet\u00e9.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n After being caught by the Guardia Civil in 1965, Pantoja lived with a priest in the southern city of Ja\u00e9n, and with nuns in the capital Madrid. After completing his military service he ended up in Mallorca working in hotels and restaurants, RTVE said in a 2010 report.\n <\/p>\n
\n While on the Balearic island he had a chance encounter with anthropologist Manila, who studied his journey and became the first person to believe him, RTVE said.\n <\/p>\n
\n In his later years, Pantoja dedicated himself to sharing his story, \u201cwith the intention of protecting nature and fostering a better understanding of it,\u201d his friend Arcones told RTVE.\n <\/p>\n
\n His life continued to draw interest, with Manila publishing his doctoral thesis as a book, \u201cI played with Wolves,\u201d and the release of a film adaptation of his life, \u201cAmong Wolves.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Pantoja built a new life in Rante, sharing a home with a retired police officer, according to a tribute from the local government posted Monday on social media.\n <\/p>\n
\n Later, a fellow resident gave him a house, and neighbors supported him, especially during his final two years of illness.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cMarcos arrived in Rante with a story that the world knew,\u201d the tribute read. \u201cHe leaves, leaving here a story that is also ours.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He became known as \u201cthe wolf boy of Sierra Morena.\u201d For most of his childhood, Marcos Rodr\u00edguez Pantoja…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[61,60,82,263],"class_list":["post-601172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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