By Cristina Caparrós-Vallcorba, Filipe Vieira Santos de Abreu, Claudio Azat, and Julio A. Benavides

This Plain Language Summary is published in advance of the paper discussed. Please check back soon for a link to the full paper.

Humans and non-human primates are increasingly interacting worldwide due to humans expanding into natural areas. Encounters include marmosets in Brazilian cities, macaques fed and worshipped in Asian temples, baboons stealing crops in Africa, or tourists visiting great apes. Humans have been pushing many wild primates to adapt and live in closer proximity, generating both positive and negative consequences for both species.

In this study, we summarized all the published literature (over 800 scientific articles) from the past 50 years to understand where and how humans and non-human primates interact, which species are involved, and why scientists study some primate species and countries are more than others.

We found that most research has focused on Africa, particularly on hunting and disease transmission. However, Brazil was the most studied country because it hosts the highest number of primate species worldwide, although Madagascar received much less attention despite having the second highest number of primate species. Charismatic chimpanzees and gorillas drew the most attention from scientists, while smaller, nocturnal, or arboreal species were much less studied.

Our results showed that studies focused mostly on biological aspects of these interactions such as the risks of virus transmission, but there is only limited attention on how local communities perceive and interact with primates. Yet understanding these human dimensions is crucial, since cultural beliefs, economic needs, and misinformation can shape human attitudes and behaviors toward primates.

By identifying global research trends and gaps, our review helps guide future work on how to better manage these interactions, promoting both primate conservation and human health in a rapidly changing world.