# In bear encounters conflicting advice. Do you make eye contact or not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2016, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-bear-encounters-conflicting-advice-do-you-make-eye-contact-or-not/751168 "2016-04-04T14:29:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-bear-encounters-conflicting-advice-do-you-make-eye-contact-or-not/751168/21 "2016-04-04T21:54:29Z")
Or then there’s the old one, how do you tell the difference between a black bear and a brown bear? Climb a tree. If it climbs up after you, it’s black. If it knocks the tree down, it’s brown. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-bear-encounters-conflicting-advice-do-you-make-eye-contact-or-not/751168/22 "2016-04-04T23:07:17Z")
[QUOTE=Omar Little] The National Park Rangers are advising hikers in Glacier National Park and other Rocky Mountain parks to be alert for bears and take extra precautions to avoid an encounter… Visitors should also carry a pepper spray can just in case a bear is encountered. Spraying the pepper into the air will irritate the bear’s sensitive nose and it will run away. [/QUOTE] Or piss them off more. I don’t think controlled studies have been done. 😉 Selling hyper-pepper spray is a good repeat business for locals. You can’t bring the stuff in on a commercial plane or take it out that way after your trip is over. If you’re visiting a wild area, there may be particular zones where bears are active. We walked a few trails in the Grand Tetons, avoiding one that was notorious for bear activity. Might’ve been a cool spot to test the pepper spray theory… ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-bear-encounters-conflicting-advice-do-you-make-eye-contact-or-not/751168/23 "2016-04-04T23:44:50Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > You don’t have to outrun the bear; you just have to outrun your fellow hikers. > > Regards, > Shodan I have always suspected this is the reason my son is always inviting me to go hiking with his family in grizzly country. They have crossed paths with dozens of them over the years without issue but my son says it never fails to scare him none the less. They are scary beasts up close. I don’t think he has ever been closer than about 100 yards. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-bear-encounters-conflicting-advice-do-you-make-eye-contact-or-not/751168/24 "2016-04-05T00:10:27Z")
What are you talking about? Nothing’s scary to a honey badger. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-bear-encounters-conflicting-advice-do-you-make-eye-contact-or-not/751168/25 "2016-04-05T01:12:27Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I think I’d be too frightened to stay erect. Although I suppose I might discover that I’m into it. 🆒 In that case I think you definitely want to make eye contact. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-bear-encounters-conflicting-advice-do-you-make-eye-contact-or-not/751168/26 "2016-04-05T06:09:45Z")
So should I take away from these posts that bears don’t read faces like dogs and horses? That they focus more on overall body language? Would that be correct? ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-bear-encounters-conflicting-advice-do-you-make-eye-contact-or-not/751168/27 "2016-04-05T06:44:05Z")
My understanding is that a bear’s facial expressions and those of a human are very similar on a basic level, so perhaps they can read our faces. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-bear-encounters-conflicting-advice-do-you-make-eye-contact-or-not/751168/28 "2016-04-05T08:01:04Z")
> **[Bear Psychology and Body Language](http://wherethebearwalks.blogspot.com/2010/10/bear-psychology-and-body-language.html)** > > This is a post I've been wanting to make for a long time, but I just never had enough insight into the subject to properly tackle it. Having... "Body language is how they communicate their intentions not only to each other, but also to us, and they read our body language to discern what our intentions are. " [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-bear-encounters-conflicting-advice-do-you-make-eye-contact-or-not/751168.md?page=1)