Feral Child

Definition of Feral Child

The Canada social science dictionary [1] provides the following meaning of Feral Child: A child who, in legend or in fact, has been raised and protected from infancy by animals. The most famous example is the ‘Wild Boy of Averon’ who was discovered in 1800 at the age of eleven or twelve after having apparently been raised by animals. Although considerable effort was made to ‘civilize’ the young man, there was little success and only a few words were mastered. The case is offered in the social sciences to emphasize the importance of socialization and the social nature of the human species. A more recent example of a child growing up in isolation from human contact is found in the story of Genie (Curtiss 1977). See: SOCIALIZATION in this legal dictionary and in the world encyclopedia of law.

Feral Child: Resources

Notes and References

• Drislane, R., & Parkinson, G. (2016). (Concept of) Feral Child. Online dictionary of the social sciences. Open University of Canada