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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Primates; Journal of Primatology

Heterospecific social behavior in primates: insights into the evolutionary roots of pet-keeping

  • Cyril C. Grueter1,2,3,4,5
  • Fany Roncin3,6
  • K. Anne-Isola Nekaris7
  • Jill Pruetz8
  • Richard McFarland9,10
  • Sabit Hasan11
  • Malgorzata Arlet12
  • Timothy M. Eppley13,14
  • Susan M. Cheyne15,16
  • Vincent Nijman15
  • Eckhard W. Heymann17
  • Pascal R. Marty18
20 more authors
  • Chiara De Gregorio19
  • Walter Akankwasa20
  • Lakshani Weerasekara4,21
  • Jerome Micheletta22
  • Ikki Matsuda23,24,25
  • Luciana I. Oklander26
  • M. Tarik Kabir27
  • Nicolas Gorostiaga26
  • Chengfeng Wu28
  • Lyna Rachid Martin29
  • Sabina Koirala30
  • Annette Lanjouw31
  • Hassan al Razi3
  • Nicholas Chapoy32
  • Laura M. Bolt33
  • Ian C. Colquhoun34
  • Yanpeng Li2,35,36
  • Zhipang Huang2,35,36
  • Colin A. Chapman37,38,39
  • Paul A. Garber2,40
40 affiliations
  1. 1Institute of Human Sciences, School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  2. 2International Centre for Biodiversity and Primate Conservation, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan China
  3. 3Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology, School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA Australia
  4. 4Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA Australia
  5. 5Centre of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda
  6. 6École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, University of Lyon, Lyon, France
  7. 7Faculty of Science and Engineering, Anglia Ruskin University, School of Life Sciences, Cambridge, UK
  8. 8Department of Anthropology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX USA
  9. 9NTU Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
  10. 10Applied Behavioural Ecology and Ecosystems Research Unit, University of South Africa, Florida, South Africa
  11. 11Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX USA
  12. 12Faculty of Biology, Institute of Human Biology and Evolution, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
  13. 13Wildlife Madagascar, San Diego, CA USA
  14. 14Department of Anthropology, Portland State University, Portland, USA
  15. 15Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK
  16. 16Borneo Nature Foundation International, Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan Indonesia
  17. 17Verhaltensökologie & Soziobiologie, Deutsches Primatenzentrum – Leibniz-Institut für Primatenforschung, Göttingen, Germany
  18. 18Wildlife Park Goldau, Goldau, Switzerland
  19. 19Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
  20. 20Bugoma Primate Conservation Project, Bugoma Central Forest Reserve, Hoima, Uganda
  21. 21Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Kandy, Sri Lanka
  22. 22Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology, School of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK
  23. 23Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto Japan
  24. 24Chubu University, Kasugai, Aichi Japan
  25. 25Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
  26. 26Grupo de Investigación en Genética Aplicada, Instituto de Biología Subtropical, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET-UNAM), Posadas, Misiones Argentina
  27. 27School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, George Town, Penang, Malaysia
  28. 28School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong China
  29. 29Réserve Africaine de Sigean, Sigean, France
  30. 30Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China
  31. 31Arcus Foundation, New York, NY USA
  32. 32Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans, USA
  33. 33John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, Institute of Forestry and Conservation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
  34. 34Department of Anthropology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
  35. 35Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan China
  36. 36Center for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan China
  37. 37Biology Department, Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo, BC Canada
  38. 38School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg South Africa
  39. 39Shaanxi Key Laboratory for Animal Conservation, School of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an, China
  40. 40Department of Anthropology and Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL USA
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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.

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-026-01281-0.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{grueter2026heterospecific,
  title = {{Heterospecific social behavior in primates: insights into the evolutionary roots of pet-keeping}},
  author = {Cyril C. Grueter and Fany Roncin and K. Anne-Isola Nekaris and Jill Pruetz and Richard McFarland and Sabit Hasan and Malgorzata Arlet and Timothy M. Eppley and Susan M. Cheyne and Vincent Nijman and Eckhard W. Heymann and Pascal R. Marty and Chiara De Gregorio and Walter Akankwasa and Lakshani Weerasekara and Jerome Micheletta and Ikki Matsuda and Luciana I. Oklander and M. Tarik Kabir and Nicolas Gorostiaga and Chengfeng Wu and Lyna Rachid Martin and Sabina Koirala and Annette Lanjouw and Hassan al Razi and Nicholas Chapoy and Laura M. Bolt and Ian C. Colquhoun and Yanpeng Li and Zhipang Huang and Colin A. Chapman and Paul A. Garber},
  journal = {Primates; Journal of Primatology},
  year = {2026},
  month = jul,
  doi = {10.1007/s10329-026-01281-0},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-026-01281-0},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Heterospecific social behavior in primates: insights into the evolutionary roots of pet-keeping
AU  - Cyril C. Grueter
AU  - Fany Roncin
AU  - K. Anne-Isola Nekaris
AU  - Jill Pruetz
AU  - Richard McFarland
AU  - Sabit Hasan
AU  - Malgorzata Arlet
AU  - Timothy M. Eppley
AU  - Susan M. Cheyne
AU  - Vincent Nijman
AU  - Eckhard W. Heymann
AU  - Pascal R. Marty
AU  - Chiara De Gregorio
AU  - Walter Akankwasa
AU  - Lakshani Weerasekara
AU  - Jerome Micheletta
AU  - Ikki Matsuda
AU  - Luciana I. Oklander
AU  - M. Tarik Kabir
AU  - Nicolas Gorostiaga
AU  - Chengfeng Wu
AU  - Lyna Rachid Martin
AU  - Sabina Koirala
AU  - Annette Lanjouw
AU  - Hassan al Razi
AU  - Nicholas Chapoy
AU  - Laura M. Bolt
AU  - Ian C. Colquhoun
AU  - Yanpeng Li
AU  - Zhipang Huang
AU  - Colin A. Chapman
AU  - Paul A. Garber
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/21
JO  - Primates; Journal of Primatology
DO  - 10.1007/s10329-026-01281-0
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-026-01281-0
AB  - 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.  Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-026-01281-0.
SN  - 0032-8332
SN  - 1610-7365
ER  -