Global distribution and contexts of interactions between humans and non‐human primates: A systematic review

Understanding the frequency and socio‐ecological drivers of contacts between humans and non‐human primates (NHPs) is crucial for enhancing coexistence that favours NHP conservation, while limiting negative consequences such as aggressions and cross‐species disease transmission. Increased human encroachment into NHP natural habitats and specific human behaviours have generated a diverse range of interactions at the human–NHP interface. In this systematic review, we summarized and characterized the existing literature on contacts at the human–NHP interface globally. Our analysis focused on research efforts related to disease transmission and the human dimensions of this socio‐ecological system. We included 821 scientific publications addressing contacts between humans and NHPs, which increased over time and covered most taxonomic groups (90% [75 out of 83] of extant NHP genera, and 51% [269 out of 528] of species). Research effort was unevenly distributed across the principal regions of NHP occurrence: Africa was the most cited continent (48% of publications), and Brazil the most studied country (10%), in contrast to a lower effort in Madagascar (2%), which ranks second in NHP richness. Our models showed that countries with higher NHP richness tend to have more publications, yet threatened, nocturnal and arboreal species were underrepresented. The most frequently studied taxa were the genus Macaca (18%) and the species Pan troglodytes (13%). Among 13 contact contexts examined, ‘hunting’ was the most reported (33%), followed by ‘habitat destruction’ (17%) and ‘tourism & habituation’ (15%). Overall, 23% of publications included pathogen‐related contacts, with viruses being the most studied pathogen (51% of pathogen‐related papers), particularly in Africa. Only 29% of publications applied social sciences approaches to describe human–NHP contacts, with little change in their proportion over time. Our review highlights major disparities in research effort on human–NHP contacts across continents, countries and species, with pathogen‐related research biased towards viruses. The relatively low integration of social sciences underscores the need for interdisciplinary approaches that integrate ecological and social dimensions to better understand and manage this complex socio‐ecological system. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.