Disturbing reason glasses were made to avoid direct eye contact with gorillas at the zoo

If you've ever been to the zoo, you could be guilty of unintentionally taunting gorillas, as they feel threatened by direct eye contact.

Fortunately, the Dutch have the answer to that problem... although rather unfortunately, they only adopted handing out glasses to visitors of their gorilla enclosure after a guest in the Netherlands was attacked by the 350-pound beast.

The Diergaarde Blijdorp zoo, in Rotterdam, handed the glasses out after a western gorilla named Bokito broke out of his pen in 2007 to brutally attack a woman who had been visiting him up to four times a week since he was just four months old - information she confirmed to officials following the incident.

The Dutch lady simply thought she had befriended the gorilla, but Bokito took it as a sign of aggression.

Bokito the gorilla attacked a visitor of his enclosure (JERRY LAMPEN/AFP via Getty Images)

"To mountain gorillas, any person who keeps direct eye contact with them is a challenger and an enemy who comes to destroy the family," explains the website Gorilla Trek.

"Direct eye contact will therefore force the silverback to charge and fight you in order to defend his family. If you want to be peaceful with gorillas, you should avoid eye contact."

So, if the woman had visited him countless times before, what caused Bokito to become so enraged as to break out?

Well, tensions rose when children allegedly began throwing rocks at him, but after he leaped over the walls of his enclosure, he reportedly only had eyes on his frequent visitor, according to reports at the time.

He dragged her around before biting her, causing multiple fractures in the process, and the woman was promptly hospitalized.

Zookeepers of the Rotterdam zoo gather outside a restaurant on the park as they attempt to sedate Bokito (Rob Doolaard/AFP via Getty Images)

The traumatic ordeal came to an end when armed zookeepers fired at him with a tranquilizer gun, sedating him.

The woman's husband had reportedly told outlets that she had been advised against making eye contact with gorillas.

However, she later said during an interview with De Telegraaf newspaper: "If I laugh at him, he laughs back."

The glasses, which were created to trick Bokito into thinking visitors of his enclosure weren't looking at him, were introduced shortly after, although it is understood they are no longer handed out.

Taking to Reddit, one user shared a similar experience they had when making eye contact with a gorilla... although it wasn't as horrific.

Maybe think twice before looking directly at a gorilla like Bokito (JERRY LAMPEN/AFP via Getty Images)

"I once worked in a zoo on work experience at 15," they wrote.

"I made the briefest of eye contact with a sliverback at the back feeding part of the enclosure, (not dissimilar to silence of the lambs prison, but with fencing) that was enough to of caused it to run at me and smash against the weak-looking fencing with both fists and grunting heavily.

"He then grunt called to the others, who sloped off their platforms and started trying to get me with sticks and throw hay at me, I was quickly escorted out."

They continued on the social media platform: "It was prob because a cute baby gorilla was bashing its chest till it fell backwards and I was watching that, and the silverback was watching me in the background.

"They are very much not to be messed with and like pretty much all other animals, not to be imprisoned for our viewing curiosity."

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