As well as being sexually attractive, hunter eyes in women may be associated with perceptions of greater sexual availability, possibly driving men's attraction to the women that have these kind of eyes.Ī 2023 study found that the width-to-height ratio of the eyes and level of exposure of the sclera were not significant associated with attractiveness judgements in European men or women. Their eyes impart a distinctive look on those that bear them, suggesting they are generally considered to be alluring.ĭespite them likely being a masculine sexually dimorphic trait, hunter eyes are also generally seen as an attractive feature among women, with many prominent actresses and female entertainers possessing this feature. Men with hunter eyes look highly dominant and threatening, with a piercing, predatory gaze. Nonetheless, individuals that are generally considered objectively attractive, such as male models, often appear to have pronounced hunter eyes. These features possibly play even less of a role in driving actual mating outcomes for men. Research on facial masculinity suggests that the role of most facially masculine features are generally overstated as an aspect of facial attractiveness for men, as most of these features do not play much of a role in driving female's evaluations of the attractiveness of male faces. Scientifically, it is an open question to which extent hunter eyes are directly attractive to women. Women's round and cute eyes are closer to 'prey eyes' however, women have a very slightly smaller interpupillary distance than men, rather than their eyes being peripherally positioned like in prey animals. Though, the correlation between the eye's width-to-height ratio and global facial masculinity was close to zero and non-significant in one study, suggesting it is not uncommon for men to have hunter eyes without having a particularly masculine face in general, despite the feature itself being sexually dimorphic. The sex of human skulls can also be identified based on whether the eye sockets are more round or more square. The same sex difference has been found in Asians and Africans. In Caucasians, men's eyes have a greater width-to-height ratio than women's, while women's eyes are rounder, i.e. a high width-to-height ratio (with a low level of vertical scleral show) is considered the essential aspect of hunter eyes. Hunter eyes are a sexually dimorphic trait.

4 More examples of hunter and 'prey eyes'.

Predator vs prey eyes activity