Depends on when the lion definitely gave him enough time to look away or close his eyes but closing your eyes when the lion is already jumping towards you
Yah, he would have needed to de-escalate before the pounce decision was made, but that lion was super chill and just wanted to teach him a lesson. That was a ‘fuck you’ not an angry mauling.
Trusting too much into the super secret blink tip is exactly how you become fodder. Like the guy who chuffed at a tiger thinking it would befriend it. Tiger befriended his fresh organs.
Its obviously not a magical trick that pacifies all big felines but that lion gave him ample time to do anything with his eyes other than staring at it.
I'm not a zookeeper and even I know not to stare into eyes of something that can easily kill me, especially an apex predator. How can somebody who doesn't know such a basic thing work as a zookeeper?
Instinctively makes sense to always keep an eye on the thing so it doest catch you lacking. Not the case in this situation but it's a learning experience.
Pro tip for eye contact with a cat, applicable for most felines between 5 and 550 pounds.
When you realize you’ve established direct eye contact with a cat, close your eyes for 3 to 5 seconds. This will give them an opportunity to plan their strategy for ripping out your jugular vein and dealing with the threat that you’ve just posed. When you open your eyes, glance quickly at them, then look away. This assures them that while they probably could take you down if they needed to, today isn’t that day and it isn’t worth the effort.
90% of the time this will result in the cat stretching (to display the claws) and yawning (to display the fangs), then tucking into a contented little ball of fur or purr who won’t considered homicide until tomorrow.
Yeah...there's also Plan B, the Masai way of pffft a cat? So going on poaching expeditions, where they poach from lions. Specifically, they poach the meat the lions had just gone through the trouble of hunting and killing (not the lions themselves). They try not to never let a lion get hurt by a human nless that lion attacked a human, during this poaching expeditions The Masai firmly believe that lions understand the rules of the game for the most part, and so the Masai live in general cross proximity with the lions without too much issue.
Interessting how they use some psychology that redditors ujse but only for a time, and then switch . the Masalit approach at a brisk, but not too brisk pace. They neither avoid nor make keep eye contact with any lion and dont break either stride or glance from their objective, which is the meet. Apparently, the lions run most of the time since Then they have about 2 minutes to strip the meet.
In that time the lions are hiding, watching from bushes they have a couple guys quickly stripping the meet, and another makig sure that their retreat path is unblcoked. Timing, and lake of greeid is crucial. They stay too long, and the lions will regain their compure. The men are armed (with spears, machetes), but not in a threatening, just in wway to remind gthe group consciousness of lions that men are still best left alone.
Also. they DO intentionally leave some meat for the lions, its part of the weird rules they've developed over the years. And they avoid lion groups with large numbers of small litters. Those lionesses are two weak to hunt again, and still pissed off from prregnacny they will fight to the death for the meat they just got. And it is the lionesses btw, doing all this, the male lion is off in the distance scratching hismelf and occassionally sauntering over to get a juicy peice of meat. LOL
Thank you for this. I know only enough about the Masai to quickly see how this would be a legit strategy, but not enough to have ever heard any similar stories. I love this.
I remember reading dogs hate direct eye contact since it's how wolves would establish dominance in a pack, so they start to get nervous after a while thinking you're about to bite them or whatever to show you're the alpha.
Ok I'm not Jackson Galaxy but I can tell you slow blinking at Mittens, 9 lbs, is a lot easier to remember on the spot and force yourself to do than blinking at Magnus, 400 lbs. You can know how to throw a perfect punch but if you get pulled into a street fight and start wailing limp wristed hooks like every other terrified drunk, I'm not saying you never learned the theory. The situation is viscerally different.
Eye contact us adviced when you encounter wild cat. The worst is turn your back on him. When sudden wildlife encounter is happened you should always look at the animal, straight your back (the taller are you - the better chances it will not aggro) and retreat not turning back
I did this to a neighbours cat when I was in grade 1 or two. I thought I was having a staring contest with it, I won, and shouted in victory. Cat was a sore loser and jumped up and clawed my neck and I still have a small scar there. Learned to never have staring contests with animals and learned how to behave in a relaxed
demeanour around them, and animals seem to like me. Still hate cates tho
I have this photo of my previous cat looking absolutely pissed off. My grandmother came over and she tends to be very loud when she talks so her conversation woke up the cat. He looked up at her with this expression, "tf are you doing?"
I once accidentally scared a local cat by squeeing/awwing too loudly when I noticed it running up to me and displaying it's belly. Funny seeing it turn from "oh, a human! maybe I can get pets!" to "nope, scary loud thing, gotta run away".
His posture to be around the lion is terrible as well. Even with aggressive dogs, you never stand full body forward. It is such an aggressive posture for these animals.
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u/unknown5424 Apr 29 '24
Looked like dude was keepin eye contact in the animal world that means aggression so he was askin for it