The search is on for the family of a girl in India found living with monkeys

A monkey in front of the Taj Mahal.
(Image credit: Matt King/Getty Images)

Police in India are trying to identify a girl, believed to be around 10 years old, who was found living in the forest with a troop of monkeys.

In January, a group of woodcutters in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh saw the emaciated girl roaming the forest with the monkeys, The Associated Press reports. They tried to approach the girl to offer help, but they were chased by the monkeys. Police were called, and an officer was attacked by the monkeys as he took the girl away. The girl was not wearing any clothes, unable to speak, used her arms and legs to run, and ate food by picking it up from the floor with her mouth.

The girl was taken to the hospital, where she has spent the last several months receiving treatment. D.K. Singh, the chief medical superintendent, said the girl now walks upright and eats with her hands. "She is still not able to speak, but understands whatever you tell her and even smiles," Singh told AP. Police are searching through reports of missing children with the hope they will find information on her, as they try to determine who this young girl is, where her parents are, and how she ended up living in the forest with monkeys.

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