http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,335660,00.htmlTHE WOLF PEOPLE
The Curse of the Hair
By Günther Stockinger
Wolf people suffer from one of the world's rarest genetic diseases: Their entire bodies are covered by a thick coat of fur. Only about 50 cases of the disorder have been documented since the Middle Ages. The recent discovery of a case of the disease in Germany has sparked new interest in hypertrichosis.
Exotic figures were not uncommon in the court of French King Henry II, where the king and his entourage were entertained by dwarfs, jesters and moors. Like many of his contemporaries, Henry II was immensely amused by the strange quirks of nature. It was 1547, and a dromedary, a leopard and a lion had just arrived from Africa at his Paris zoo in the gardens of the Hôtel des Tournelles.
But another strange being that appeared before Henry's astonished court in the same year surpassed anything they had seen before: a 10-year-old boy who was half-human, half-animal. The boy's entire face -- his forehead, cheeks, nose and ears -- was covered in about four inches of dark-blonde fur, revealing only his eyes and lips.
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