A primate takes him to heart (5)
I believe the answer is:
chimp
'a primate' is the definition.
(short for chimpanzee)
'him to heart' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'him' could be 'hi' and 'hi' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'takes' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for chimp that I've seen before include "Cheeky primate" , "Arboreal ape from equatorial Africa (abbr)" , "Ape (colloq.)" , "Anthropoid ape" , "A great ape (abbr.)" .)