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[–] 101 points 1 year ago (10 children)

One of nature's most venerable predators, the horse

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  • [–] 144 points 1 year ago (7 children)
  • [–] 35 points 1 year ago* (6 children)

    After seeing this comment, my autistic discomfort with direct eye-contact now feels justified.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Not to ruin your day, but avoiding eye contact doesn't make predators not want to eat you. Also, humans are evolved with forward facing eyes, so we look at stuff to see them. I don't think this fact has anything to do with people who are uncomfortable with eye contact.

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  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    Huh? I'm referring to the idea that being face-to-face (ie, making straight eye contact) with a predator would naturally make someone tense. Thus, it could make sense for eye contact to cause discomfort. Who said anything about predators not wanting to eat someone?

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    "Being stared at by a predator makes me uncomfortable."

    "But it's your own species. You're a predator."

    "That also makes me uncomfortable."

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Most predators take direct eye contact as an act of aggression. When dogs are submissive, they lower their heads, or expose their neck or belly. Prey don't like eye contact with predators because predators tend to look at what they are going to attack. Some cultures take direct eye contact as a sign of disrespect, others take avoiding eye contact as a sign of guilt or ill intent. As always, people are weird.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    cats are funny because they don't like eye contact, unless you're squinting at them which very explicitly means you're super friendly, then they can just stare into your soul for hours as you rub their tummy and they rumble like a washing machine.

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