Zoanthropy is?

Zoanthropes are humans with the ability to transform into beasts. They are similar to werewolves, but there is a wide variety to what type of animal individual Zoanthropes can become.

In the Bloody Roar series, the majority of Zoanthropes are primarily mammals and feline. Whether or not a feline alter-ego is the dominant type is uncertain; the games do not go farther into the background of Zoanthropes outside of the main characters in-game.

 

Clinical lycanthropy is defined as a rare psychiatric syndrome that involves a delusionthat the affected person can transform into, has transformed into, or is a non-human animal. Its name is connected to the mythical condition of lycanthropy, a supernatural affliction in which humans are said to physically shapeshift into wolves.

A kind of monomania in which the patient believes himself transformed into one of the lower animals.

However, it is a common theme in the games that a Zoanthrope transformation can be forced by experimentation. Alice is an example of a Zoanthrope experiment that resulted in success. Experiments conducted on Stun made him a Zoanthrope, but the result was an unstable and deformed body. Uriko was a victim of too many experiments, and therefore has an altered, lesser beast form instead of her original Chimera form.

 

 a form of mental delusion in which a man believes himself to be a beast—the devout divine, Simon Browne (1680-1732), under this belief devoted himself to the making of a dictionary.

It is also suggested in Bloody Roar 4 that Zoanthrope abilities can be passed from a Zoanthrope to a human, though this has only been proven in regards to the Unborn. Xion stabbed Nagi and she became the Spurious. The games never expand upon the idea of a bite or a scratch from a Zoanthrope mutating humans into beasts.