Is it rude to stare at the animals?

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Dimples

Member
People on the bus ( in Canada ) get mad if you look at them for 2 seconds. It's expected that if you make eye contact you must immediately look away. The polite in Canada is far over-rated, trust me.

But staring at animals is fine. What if they make eye contact, or are busy eating ? Polite, impolite or even creepy and intrusive ?

Stare at grass.
 
Dimples said:
People on the bus ( in Canada ) get mad if you look at them for 2 seconds. It's expected that if you make eye contact you must immediately look away. The polite in Canada is far over-rated, trust me.

But staring at animals is fine. What if they make eye contact, or are busy eating ? Polite, impolite or even creepy and intrusive ?

Stare at grass.
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I suppose animals don't mind being stared at the same way people do. It is important of course, for animals to have the option to hide but generally in zoos they do have that option and they are accustomed to people looking at them.
Are you advocating to not look at zoo animals and to 'Stare at grass' instead? I apologize if that wasn't what you meant.
 
tigris115 said:
Well for the primates, it's very rude to look them in the eye
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yes, it's perceived as a provocative gesture in primates, especially gorillas and chimps. Staring in the eye, particularly to a male, means that you're threatening it or questioning its dominance.
Many gorilla attack survival methods will tell you to avoid eye contact and instead look down as a gesture that say you're not a threat and that you're subordinate to it.
 
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