A
feral child (also called
wild child) is a
human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, and has little or no experience of human care, behavior, or, crucially, of human
language. Some feral children have been confined by people (usually their own parents), and in some cases this
child abandonment was due to the parents’ rejection of a child’s severe intellectual or physical impairment. Feral children may have experienced severe
abuse or
trauma before being abandoned or running away. Feral children are sometimes the subjects of
folklore and legends, typically portrayed as having been raised by animals.