The scientific study of external parasites and their relationships with their host animals.
From 'epizoa' plus '-logy' (the study of). This field of biology emerged as scientists increasingly understood external parasitism in the 19th century.
Epizoology as a field helped scientists realize that the visible world of parasites was just the tip of the iceberg—it led to understanding internal parasites, viruses, and bacteria, essentially founding modern parasitology and microbiology.
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