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0 points0823498723498723y ago0 comments

I have an amateur theory that strange wildlife, unlike strange people, are made much more comfortable by avoiding eye contact.

Parent comment would explain this observation: predators gaze upon their prey.

(flipping the arrows around, I've seen the advice to dance tango, not so much with "snappiness" as is popularly supposed, but in a predatory manner: slow stalking, interspersed with rapid pounces)

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8 comments · 6 top-level

eyelidlessness3y ago· 2 in thread

This is definitely true for dogs/canids, eye contact is a signal of dominance and/or aggression. It’s common advice to soften your glance if you’re approaching an unfamiliar or potentially aggressive dog. It’s also helpful to make more direct eye contact when establishing you’re in charge when training them.

I’ve also noticed with many birds that they prefer indirect attention. This includes not just eye contact, but pointing a camera (or really anything) in their direction. Which unfortunately means I have very little photographic evidence of the many times I’ve had birds just hanging around being pleasant companions for a while.

mcbits3y ago

The birds around here don't stick around long enough to let me earn their trust, but I can get pretty close to the deer, rabbits, and squirrels just by pointing the camera off to my side so I'm standing perpendicular and appear to be focused on stuff on the ground instead of them.

eyelidlessness3y ago

Oh damn I meant to mention rabbits! At least the ones around me don’t even mind if I point a camera at them so long as I’m looking another way. So I have lots of good blurry or poorly aimed rabbit photos. They really do seem to believe that if they go totally still nothing can see them until proven otherwise. And maybe they’re right, I almost always have to tell my pup “there’s a bun!” And even then it’s usually after I’ve directed her chase before she sees the fleeing things.

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aidenn03y ago

Every bird I've interacted with prefers when I look at it from one side, or barring that, closing an eye; I think two eyes on it screams "predator"

julian_sark3y ago

I have read this somewhere, not sure where, but by someone very much in touch with nature. He called it the "lost car keys" approach. Always approach animals as if looking for your car keys on the ground: avoiding eye contact, and not in a straight line.

IIsi50MHz3y ago

Preference for eye contact varies with culture (among other factors). While people in a place like USA might regard a person who avoids eye contact as sneaky or untrustworthy, people in a place like Japan are more likely to regard direct eye contact as a sign that they are distrusted by the person.

KineticLensman3y ago

(I volunteer at a Raptor conservancy). Totally. Making eye contact with a big predator generally means either ‘I want to eat you’ or ‘I want to make love to you’. But you also have to maintain situational awareness, to avoid getting a clout on the head from some big talons

naniwaduni3y ago

> unlike strange people

and ... like ... non-strange people?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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