Anthropogenic influence is expanding, threatening primate taxa worldwide. With wildlife tourism a burgeoning industry, understanding human–primate interactions is key in avoiding primate defaunation. We observed interactions between humans and a group of wild Panamanian white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus imitator) at Curú Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica, in June and July, 2019, and compared our findings with findings for the same group in May–October of 2006 and 2007, when the group received more provisioning. We recorded all occurrences of human–primate interactions in 323 15-min samples over 42 consecutive days. We found that capuchins initiated approximately twice as many interactions as humans did (a significant difference). We also found a strong positive correlation between engaging behaviors exhibited by humans and capuchin agonistic behaviors. Capuchins spent significantly more time engaging in moderate behaviors (snatch food, snatch item, vigilance, vocalization) and less time not interacting with humans, in the presence of tourists and staff, than in the presence of staff only. Time spent in moderate and intense behaviors (approach, beg, chase, offer, take food, threat) was lower in 2019 than in 2006 and 2007. These findings suggest that reducing engaging behaviors by humans may reduce primate agonistic behaviors, and that human group composition affects human–primate interactions. The reduction in moderate and intense behaviors between studies also suggests that reducing direct provisioning could reduce the frequency and intensity of human–primate interactions in tourist sites.

人为影响力正在扩大，威胁着全世界的灵长类生物群。随着野生动物旅游业的蓬勃发展，了解人与灵长类动物的相互作用对于避免灵长类动物的毁灭至关重要。我们观察到了人类与一群野生的巴拿马白面卷尾猴（Cebus模仿者）之间的相互作用）于2019年6月和7月在哥斯达黎加的库鲁野生动物保护区进行了比较，并将我们的调查结果与同一小组在2006年5月至10月和2007年10月的调查结果进行了比较，当时该小组收到了更多的准备金。我们记录了连续42天中323个15分钟的样本中所有人类与灵长类动物互动的情况。我们发现，卷尾猴引发的相互作用大约是人类的两倍（有显着差异）。我们还发现，人类表现出的参与行为与卷尾猴的激动行为之间具有很强的正相关性。在游客和工作人员在场的情况下，与仅在工作人员在场的情况相比，卷尾猴在进行适度行为（抢夺食物，抢夺物品，保持警惕，发声）上花费的时间明显多于不与人互动的时间。花费在中度和激烈行为上的时间（接近，乞求，追逐，提供，吃东西，威胁）在2019年比2006年和2007年要少。这些发现表明，减少人类的参与行为可能会减少灵长类动物的激动行为，并且人类群体的组成会影响人与灵长类动物的相互作用。研究之间中度和激烈行为的减少还表明，减少直接供应可能会减少旅游景点中人与灵长类动物互动的频率和强度。