Wild primate welfare — the wellbeing of individual primates beyond population-level conservation goals — is an emerging focus within primatology and welfare science.
Wild primate welfare examines the wellbeing of individual animals beyond population viability. Long-term behavioral observation of primates in the wild reveals individual life histories that include significant suffering — infants dying of disease, individuals injured in territorial conflicts, subordinate animals under chronic social stress. Conservation programs that protect habitats and population numbers are not automatically welfare-positive for the individuals within those populations. A welfare perspective on wild primates acknowledges that conservation success and individual animal welfare are related but distinct goods, and that the welfare of individual wild primates deserves direct consideration alongside population-level metrics.