“a tiger choose to look at me”
I had that experience at the Detroit zoo. No one else noticed, but a tiger fixed his eyes on me, and intense fear gripped me, as I wondered if he could clear the moat and the fence. I didn’t say anything to my Dad who was with me, but you may be sure I moved right on to the next exhibit.
At the San Diego Zoo, 27 years ago, an Alaska Brown Bear fixed me in its gaze and followed ‘til I was out of sight.
It was recognizably the same look I give a succulent deer over my rifle sights. And I was VERY conscious of being unarmed.
I suspect our simian (and/or possibly more recent) ancestors developed specific triggers for large cats deep in pre-history that are still residual in our brains today which you and I are describing being evoked.