# Would a baby learn to walk having never seen someone walk before? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 25, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-baby-learn-to-walk-having-never-seen-someone-walk-before/354195 "2006-04-25T20:02:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gitfiddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/898d66/32.png) [@gitfiddle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gitfiddle)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-baby-learn-to-walk-having-never-seen-someone-walk-before/354195/1 "2006-04-25T20:02:11Z")
If a baby had never seen someone walk before, would it learn to walk? Can anyone make any assumptions on this? ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-baby-learn-to-walk-having-never-seen-someone-walk-before/354195/2 "2006-04-25T20:09:28Z")
I’d have to guess yes. Kids learn other things, such crawling, climbing up onto a chair, climbing trees later on, etc without necessarily seeing it done by others. Our three kids all learned to solve toy problems (such as putting proper shaped blocks into same shaped openings) without any help from us when they were in the 1-3 year ages. They learned how to get into all sorts of trouble without ever seeing us do the same. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-baby-learn-to-walk-having-never-seen-someone-walk-before/354195/3 "2006-04-25T20:46:44Z")
Also, people who are blind from birth seem to do okay. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-baby-learn-to-walk-having-never-seen-someone-walk-before/354195/4 "2006-04-25T21:10:18Z")
This reminded me of the “Wolf Girls” of Midnapore, who were literally raised by wolves. Though one learned to walk bipedally once under human care (the other died), they had not learned to do so with the wolves. Instead, they walked on four limbs. [http://www.feralchildren.com/en/showchild.php?ch=kamala](http://www.feralchildren.com/en/showchild.php?ch=kamala) It’s interesting stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-baby-learn-to-walk-having-never-seen-someone-walk-before/354195/5 "2006-04-25T22:33:51Z")
[The Master Speaks: Has a human child ever been raised by wolves or other animals?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_046.html) Cecil indicates that most feral children walk on all fours. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-baby-learn-to-walk-having-never-seen-someone-walk-before/354195/6 "2006-04-25T22:46:10Z")
> [@cher3](#): > > Also, people who are blind from birth seem to do okay. True, but their parents/siblings walk upright, and a blind child would presumably notice that, by sound and feel, let alone the encouragement from the parents to walk upright (e.g. - holding the child’s hands up and letting them get the idea of walking upright with that support). ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-baby-learn-to-walk-having-never-seen-someone-walk-before/354195/7 "2006-04-25T22:57:03Z")
[A Turkish family where some members walk on all fours.](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=379134&in_page_id=1770)