Skip to main content

Feral Children

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Abstract

This chapter examines the history, description, classification, assessment, and treatment of feral children. It also offers information on prognosis and future research directions. Feral children are familiar figures in popular lore and literature. The story of children growing up alone or raised by wild animals, untouched by human society, has a global and persistent appeal. The idea of feral children may draw its appeal from their unusual position of occupying the gap between animal and human, an extension of the conceptual continuum running from civilization to savagery. By definition, feral children live outside of human contact, and therefore documentation of wild animals feeding and nurturing them does not exist. Reports of feral children have stated that they were discovered in the proximity of animals, but no credible accounts relate witnessing animals caring for children. More common than isolated children are the abandoned children. These individuals are so frequently encountered in some urban areas that they have been referred to as a group by the term children of the street. Children of the street have been deserted, entirely or largely, to their own caretaking or that of other children and sustain some of the physical and affective needs deficits borne by feral children. They may, therefore, be at risk for some of the same developmental delays and dysfunctions as feral children, albeit under less pervasive environmental stressors.

Keywords

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • BBC News. (2008, April 30). Austria seeks to ‘rescue image’. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7374965.stm.

  • Bettelheim, B. (1959). Feral children and autistic children. The American Journal of Sociology, 64(5), 455–467.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Candland, D. K. (1993). Feral children and clever animals: Reflections on human nature. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castellani, A. (1947). Hypertrichosis of the lanugo hair in malnutrition. British Medical Journal, 2(4517), 188.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Curtiss, S. (1977). Genie: A psycholinguistic study of a modern-day “wild child”. New York: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, K. (1940). Extreme social isolation of a child. The American Journal of Sociology, 45(4), 554–565.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, K. (1947). Final note on a case of extreme social isolation of a child. The American Journal of Sociology, 52(5), 432–437.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dennis, W. (1941). The significance of feral man. The American Journal of Psychology, 54(3), 425–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Favazza, A. (1977). Feral and isolated children. The British Journal of Medical Psychology, 50(1), 105–111.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Findley, C. V. (2005). The Turks in world history. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foley, J. P. (1940). The ‘baboon boy’ of South Africa. The American Journal of Psychology, 53(1), 128–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Golden, M. H., Samuels, M. P., & Southall, D. P. (2003). How to distinguish between neglect and deprivational abuse. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 88, 105–107.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grice, E. (2006, July 17). Cry of an enfant sauvage. The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk.

  • Ibn Tufail, A. B. (1929). The history of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Itard, J.-M.-G. (1962). The wild boy of Aveyron. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kampusch, N. (2010). 3,096 Days. New York: Viking.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenneally, S. M., Bruck, G. E., Frank, E. M., & Nalty, L. (1998). Language intervention after thirty years of isolation: A case study of a feral child. Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 33(1), 13–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koluchovà, J. (1992). Deprivation and its reparation in children of Czechoslovakia. Child Abuse Review, 1, 49–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koluchova’s Twins. (1976). British Medical Journal, 2(6041), 897–898. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20411792.

  • Lane, H. (1976). The wild boy of Aveyron. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lane, H., & Pillard, R. (1978). The wild boy of Burundi: A study of an outcast child. New York, Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • LaPointe, L. L. (2005). Children aren’t dogs; adults aren’t gods. Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology, 13(1), vii–ix.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loffstadt, H., Nichol, R. J., & de Klerk, B. (2006). African Psychiatry Review, 9(4), 231–234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malson, L. (1972). Wolf children and the problem of human nature. New York: Monthly Review Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNeil, M. C., Polloway, E. A., & Smith, J. D. (1984). Feral and isolated children: Historical review and analysis. Education and Training of the Mentally Retarded, 19(1), 70–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moura, S. L. (2002). The social construction of street children: configuration and implications. British Journal of Social Work, 32, 353–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ogburn, W. F. (1959). The wolf boy of Agra. The American Journal of Sociology, 64(5), 454–459.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Secret of the Wild Child. (1997, March 4). NOVA [Television Program]. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2112gchild.html.

  • Singh, J. A. L., & Zingg, R. M. (1942). Wolf-children and feral man. New York: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J. D. (1997). Liddy, a child found and lost: A voice across time. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 9(1), 31–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Syria: Triumph of Civilization. (1948, September 9). Time. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,855406,00.html.

  • Terr, L. C. (2003). “Wild child”: How three principles of healing organized 12 years of psychotherapy. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 42(12), 1401–1409.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization. (2000). Working with street children. Retrieved from http://www.unodc.org/pdf/youthnet/who_street_children_introduction.pdf.

  • Zingg, R. M. (1940a). Feral man and extreme cases of isolation. The American Journal of Psychology, 53(4), 487–517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zingg, R. M. (1940b). More about the ‘baboon boy’ of South Africa. The American Journal of Psychology, 53(3), 455–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stefan C. Dombrowski .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Dombrowski, S.C., Gischlar, K.L., Mrazik, M., Greer, F.W. (2011). Feral Children. In: Assessing and Treating Low Incidence/High Severity Psychological Disorders of Childhood. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9970-2_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics