Optic neuropathies are a group of disorders characterized by damage or dysfunction of the optic nerve, which transmits visual information from the retina to the brain. Common causes include glaucoma, ischemic optic neuropathy, optic neuritis, hereditary optic neuropathies and traumatic or compressive optic neuropathies. These conditions can result in vision loss, decreased visual acuity, color vision defects, and visual field abnormalities. The effective treatment strategies have been urgently addressed for long. Consequently, development of both spontaneous and experimental disease models is crucial to thoroughly illustrate disease property and biological mechanisms. As the largest ocular study conducted in non-human primates (NHPs), NHP eye study (NHPES) provided a comprehensive insight into optic nerve survey by launching normal range of relevant parameters and some spontaneous optic nerve disorders, laying the foundation for translation from monkey models to human clinical applications. NHPs are the most ideal animal models because of the marked species proximity through evolution between them and human, so substantial efforts have been attempted toward establishing NHP models for optic nerve research. These animals are of great importance for accelerating the exploitation of novel treatment targets, promoting advantageous drug delivery methods and enhancing patients' outcomes. Furthermore, the sophisticated structure and physiological function of monkeys faithfully replicate the typical pathology and progression of specific diseases. In the current narrative review, we provide an overview of why NHPs could be used to study the optic nerve and the significance of NHPES compared with other eye studies of monkeys.