Zoophilia from the Greek Ζωο (zôon, "animal") and φιλία (philia, "friendship" or "love"), also known as zoosexuality, is a paraphilia, defined as an affinity or sexual attraction by a human to a (non-human) animal. Such individuals are called zoophiles. A separate term, bestiality, which is more common in mainstream usage and frequently but incorrectly so seen as a synonym, refers to human/animal sexual activity. To avoid confusion about the meaning of zoophilia — which may refer to the affinity/attraction, paraphilia, or sexual activity — this article uses zoophilia for the former, and bestiality or zoosexual activity for the sexual act. The two terms are independent: not all sexual acts with animals are performed by zoophiles; and not all zoophiles perform sexual acts with animals.
