Human interactions with wildlife are a defining experience of human existence.

These
interactions can be positive or negative. People compete with wildlife for food and resources,
and have eradicated dangerous species; co-opted and domesticated valuable species; and
applied a wide range of social, behavioral, and technical approaches to reduce negative
interactions with wildlife. This conflict has led to the extinction and reduction of numerous
species and uncountable human deaths and economic losses. Recent advances in our
understanding of conflict have led to a growing number of positive conservation and coexistence
outcomes. I summarize and synthesize factors that contribute to conflict, approaches that
mitigate conflict and encourage coexistence, and emerging trends and debates. Fertile areas for
scholarship include scale and complexity, models and scenarios, understanding generalizable
patterns, expanding boundaries of what is considered conflict, using new tools and
technologies, information sharing and collaboration, and the implications of global change. The
time may be ripe to identify a new field, anthrotherology, that brings together scholars and
practitioners from different disciplinary perspectives to address human–wildlife conflict and
coexistence.