Humans have used non-human primates (hereafter referred to as primates) as food source, medicine, parts of rituals, pets, and models for various studies worldwide. Here we investigated the extent of the use of primates by humans in three areas in northeastern Brazil, the country’s most impoverished region. We carried out our study in three biomes (Caatinga, Cerrado, and Atlantic Forest). The results showed that humans exploited all five primate species occurring in the study sites: Callithrix jacchus, Sapajus flavius, Sapajus libidinosus, Alouatta belzebul, and Alouatta ululata. They used the primates as a food source, as pets and medicines, and for leisure. Despite socioeconomic differences in the study areas, we found similarities in the use of primates. Larger primates were targeted for meat, whereas the small common marmosets were targeted as pets. We found conflicting interactions between humans and bearded capuchins due to crop raiding, but no such conflict was found between humans and blonde capuchins, reflecting the differences in crop type, pattern, and tradition in the sites. A. ululata was used as medicine. We suggest that environmental education actions in the study areas should focus on (i) raising awareness among local people of the ecological importance of primates, (ii) providing alternative activities to hunting whenever possible, and (iii) minimising conflicts.

人类已经使用非人类灵长类动物（以下简称灵长类动物）作为食物来源、药物、仪式的一部分、宠物和世界范围内各种研究的模型。在这里，我们调查了巴西东北部三个地区人类使用灵长类动物的程度，巴西东北部是该国最贫困的地区。我们在三个生物群落（卡廷加、塞拉多和大西洋森林）中进行了研究。结果表明，人类利用了研究地点发生的所有五种灵长类动物：  Callithrix jacchus、  Sapajus flavius、  Sapajus libidinosus、  Alouatta belzebul和 Alouatta ululata. 他们使用灵长类动物作为食物来源、宠物和药物以及休闲。尽管研究区域的社会经济存在差异，但我们发现灵长类动物的使用有相似之处。较大的灵长类动物以肉为目标，而小型的普通狨猴则以宠物为目标。我们发现人类和胡须卷尾猴之间因作物袭击而发生冲突，但在人类和金发卷尾猴之间没有发现这种冲突，这反映了遗址作物类型、模式和传统的差异。 A. ululata被用作药物。我们建议研究区的环境教育行动应侧重于 (i) 提高当地人对灵长类动物生态重要性的认识，(ii) 尽可能提供狩猎的替代活动，以及 (iii) 尽量减少冲突。