Primos, Pets ou Pestes? A relação entre Humanos e macacos-prego dentro e fora da Internet

Abstract

Currently more than half of all primate species in the world are threatened with extinction due to anthropogenic interference. Among the greatest threats are deforestation for monoculture/pasture and urbanization and illegal hunting and/or capture for the pet trade. Capuchin monkeys are one of the most trafficked primates in Brazil, and eradicating their cycle of apprehensions requires a multifaceted approach that seeks to analyze the varied scales of the human-primate relationship. This dissertation aimed to firstly draw a general picture of the interspecific relationship between humans and Brazilian primate genera through a review of Ethnoprimatological articles carried out in the national territory. Studies carried out in rural and urban environments show differences in the types of interactions they describe: foraging in garbage by primates and food supply by humans occur in more urbanized areas and symbolic relationships and mystical beliefs about non-human primates are described more in rural settlements and indigenous people. Capuchin monkeys, being generalist and semi-terrestrial, were the most cited and had the greatest diversity of interactions, including conflicted ones, with humans, such as foraging in garbage, invasion of homes and crops, hunting and poisoning. Then, using keywords and Crowdsourcing tools in three of the largest social media applications on the Internet, a survey was made of all news and reports involving these primates on Google, as well as a description of the most common exposure contexts and popular in videos and photos on YouTube and Instagram. We found that the type of content with the greatest engagement on Social Media features individuals in domestic environment and being pets (70.97%), and that news involving the trade (legal and illegal) of these primates on reporting sites shows a growth curve exponential over the years. The negative impacts that the conjunction of increasing urban proximity, conflicting interactions (e.g., home invasion), trade in exotic pets and exposure on social media can have on public engagement in future strategies for scientific dissemination, environmental education and conservation of these species are highlighted.