{
  "abstract": "Primate interspecific interactions with both other primates and non-primate species range from predator–prey dynamics to affiliative behaviors such as grooming, play, and carrying. While many primates participate in interspecific associations or commensal relationships, to our knowledge interspecific social interactions have never been systematically synthesized. Here, we present the first comprehensive review of such interactions, compiling 427 cases from the literature, media sources, and a global survey of primatologists. These involved 88 primate species and 127 non-primate species (including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, malacostracans, and insects) across wild (n = 311) and captive (n = 111) contexts. The most frequent interactions occurred within or between primate families (e.g., Cercopithecidae–Cercopithecidae, Cebidae–Atelidae), though affiliative behaviors were also directed toward distantly related taxa such as dogs and birds. Play (n = 139) and grooming (n = 136) were most common. Juveniles and infants predominantly engaged in play, while adult females were more likely to groom. Adult males were less affiliative overall. Contrary to expectations, affiliative behaviors were not more often directed toward immature than adult heterospecifics. Primates were the initiators in most interactions. These findings offer new insights into the diversity and contexts of heterospecific sociality in primates and suggest that some behavioral tendencies relevant to later forms of human–animal companionship – such as caregiving, tolerance, and exploratory play – may be more widespread among primates than previously recognized.\n\nSupplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-026-01281-0.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Institute of Human Sciences, School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK",
    "International Centre for Biodiversity and Primate Conservation, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan China",
    "Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology, School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA Australia",
    "Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA Australia",
    "Centre of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda",
    "École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, University of Lyon, Lyon, France",
    "Faculty of Science and Engineering, Anglia Ruskin University, School of Life Sciences, Cambridge, UK",
    "Department of Anthropology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX USA",
    "NTU Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK",
    "Applied Behavioural Ecology and Ecosystems Research Unit, University of South Africa, Florida, South Africa",
    "Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX USA",
    "Faculty of Biology, Institute of Human Biology and Evolution, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland",
    "Wildlife Madagascar, San Diego, CA USA",
    "Department of Anthropology, Portland State University, Portland, USA",
    "Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK",
    "Borneo Nature Foundation International, Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan Indonesia",
    "Verhaltensökologie & Soziobiologie, Deutsches Primatenzentrum – Leibniz-Institut für Primatenforschung, Göttingen, Germany",
    "Wildlife Park Goldau, Goldau, Switzerland",
    "Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK",
    "Bugoma Primate Conservation Project, Bugoma Central Forest Reserve, Hoima, Uganda",
    "Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Kandy, Sri Lanka",
    "Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology, School of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK",
    "Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto Japan",
    "Chubu University, Kasugai, Aichi Japan",
    "Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia",
    "Grupo de Investigación en Genética Aplicada, Instituto de Biología Subtropical, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET-UNAM), Posadas, Misiones Argentina",
    "School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, George Town, Penang, Malaysia",
    "School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong China",
    "Réserve Africaine de Sigean, Sigean, France",
    "Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China",
    "Arcus Foundation, New York, NY USA",
    "Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans, USA",
    "John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, Institute of Forestry and Conservation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada",
    "Department of Anthropology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada",
    "Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan China",
    "Center for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan China",
    "Biology Department, Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo, BC Canada",
    "School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg South Africa",
    "Shaanxi Key Laboratory for Animal Conservation, School of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an, China",
    "Department of Anthropology and Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL USA"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 32,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2,
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Cyril C. Grueter",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8770-8148"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Fany Roncin"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "K. Anne-Isola Nekaris"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Jill Pruetz"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8,
        9
      ],
      "name": "Richard McFarland"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10
      ],
      "name": "Sabit Hasan"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        11
      ],
      "name": "Malgorzata Arlet"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        12,
        13
      ],
      "name": "Timothy M. Eppley"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        14,
        15
      ],
      "name": "Susan M. Cheyne"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        14
      ],
      "name": "Vincent Nijman"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        16
      ],
      "name": "Eckhard W. Heymann"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        17
      ],
      "name": "Pascal R. Marty"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        18
      ],
      "name": "Chiara De Gregorio"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        19
      ],
      "name": "Walter Akankwasa"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        20
      ],
      "name": "Lakshani Weerasekara"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        21
      ],
      "name": "Jerome Micheletta"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        22,
        23,
        24
      ],
      "name": "Ikki Matsuda"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        25
      ],
      "name": "Luciana I. Oklander"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        26
      ],
      "name": "M. Tarik Kabir"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        25
      ],
      "name": "Nicolas Gorostiaga"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        27
      ],
      "name": "Chengfeng Wu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        28
      ],
      "name": "Lyna Rachid Martin"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        29
      ],
      "name": "Sabina Koirala"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        30
      ],
      "name": "Annette Lanjouw"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Hassan al Razi"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        31
      ],
      "name": "Nicholas Chapoy"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        32
      ],
      "name": "Laura M. Bolt"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        33
      ],
      "name": "Ian C. Colquhoun"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        34,
        35
      ],
      "name": "Yanpeng Li"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        34,
        35
      ],
      "name": "Zhipang Huang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        36,
        37,
        38
      ],
      "name": "Colin A. Chapman"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        39
      ],
      "name": "Paul A. Garber"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4dep5ged0456x.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1007/s10329-026-01281-0",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13731472/",
  "id": "4dep5ged0456x",
  "issns": [
    "0032-8332",
    "1610-7365"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-026-01281-0",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Original Article"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1105|Primate Behavior and Ecology"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7169838274",
  "pdf_url": "https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10329-026-01281-0.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13731472",
  "pmid": "42479284",
  "published": "2026-07-21",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4dep5ged0456x.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-08T12:21:39Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13731472",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-026-01281-0"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:1105|Primate Behavior and Ecology",
      "subfield": "ecology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Heterospecific social behavior in primates: insights into the evolutionary roots of pet-keeping",
  "title_text": "Heterospecific social behavior in primates: insights into the evolutionary roots of pet-keeping",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T12:21:39Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4dep5ged0456x",
  "venue": "Primates; Journal of Primatology",
  "versions": []
}