The juvenile

Highly social species of mammals have a juvenile stage of growth and development. For the non-human social mammals, including the monkeys and apes, the juvenile stage follows infancy and preceded adulthood. Juvenile mammals are, for the most part, responsible for their own feeding and protection. Juveniles are also not sexually mature. In living humans, the juvenile stage follows childhood and encompasses the ages of 7.0 to 9.9 years in both sexes. This is a time of slower growth in height and weight compared to that of infancy and childhood. By about age 7 years the juvenile has a brain that is nearly adult size, but still actively changing with experience and learning. The juvenile brain undergoes a cognitive transition from childhood play to the learning and practice of economic and social skills. In traditional societies and many lower income nations these skills are learned during work and play; in higher income settings, the skills are learned during formal schooling. By age 7 years the juvenile has an adult-like energy efficiency in bipedal walking and other physical activities. Juveniles are capable of self-feeding, including gathering of food and its preparation. Anthropological research finds that so-called «street children», that is young people living on their own in cities around the world, are not children. They are age 7 years or older and are, in fact, «street-juveniles». [Barry Bogin]