'Hunted by jaguars': Woman reveals how she was raised in a Brazilian cave

Charity work: Christina's life changed after she was adopted in 1991 by a middle-class family in Sweden. Photo / Instagram

A woman who was raised in a cave and hunted by jaguars has revealed her unusual upbringing.

Christina Rickardsson's childhood bears resemblance to the Disney classic the Jungle Book though what she describes is far from a fairy tale.

The 35-year-old grew up in a cave in the depths of the jungle with her mother for five years on the outskirts of the town Diamantina in Brazil.

In her new book Never Stop Walking, she has shared stories about hunting birds to eat and at one point was embroiled in a violent clash with a street child who she killed to survive.

She reveals her and her mother hid from jaguars before making their way to Sao Paulo to beg for food, the MailOnline reported.

But her life all changed when she was adopted in 1991 and moved to Sweden where she grew up in a middle-class family.

An extract of her book was published on News.com.au this weekend where she remembered: 'The growling was enough to make my mother and me shake with fear.

"And then we saw it — a jaguar on top of our cave, hunting for prey."

Her mother Petronilia, brought her to the caves in April 1983 when she was just 15 days old after running away from her abusive family.

She recalled in the book: "Achingly poor, we would eat birds killed by slingshot and regularly hike to Diamantina to sell dried leaves and flowers and buy rice.

"I gained confidence from hunting and scavenging and still recall my immense pride when I claimed my first bird, which we grilled over our tiny fire pit."

The pair begged on the streets of Sao Paulo for money where they were spat at and called cockroaches.

A new life: Christina Rickardsson is pictured as an adult on the streets of New York. Photo / Instagram

And at the age of seven, she got in a fight with a street boy over a piece of bread from a bin.

She wrote: "Grappling on the ground, I heard a clinking sound next to me — a big piece of a glass bottle. I picked it up in my hand.

"He turned around, and without thinking, still moving, I jabbed that piece of glass at his belly as hard as I could.

"At first I felt nothing. Then my hand got warm. Blood gushed from the wound. I took the bread from the boy as he screamed and doubled over in pain.

"After I'd run a fair way, I started eating. But then I started vomiting. The realisation of what I'd done hit me."

Ms Rickardsson heard the rumour days later that the boy had died.

Eventually Ms Rickardsson was put in an orphanage, and in 1991 they were adopted by a middle-class family in Sweden.

In 2015, she returned to Brazil for the first time in 24 years and tracked down her long-lost mother.

Ms Rickardsson went on to found the children's charity, Coelho Growth Foundation.

Speaking out has not been easy for the charity boss.

Taking to Instagram back in May, she revealed she had been threatened for revealing the truth about her childhood.

She wrote: "I have been called murderer and I have been called communist for telling my truth. For speaking up and trying to give millions of street children a voice. For talking about integration and that we all have the same human value.

"But I will keep on doing my thing, I will continue to tell my story and the story of so many children around the world.

"I will keep on fighting for human rights and for equality in my own way, by giving lectures and keep on writing and addressing these problems.

"I will keep on walking! So thanks for your love and support. Without it I wouldn't have made it this far."