Cats are deeply curious creatures. Recent evidence suggests that these tiny lions see us as inessential landlords, or rubbish, fur-lacking kittens.
photo credit: The Len/Shutterstock
A new internet craze involving our feline companions has unveiled another piece of strange information: For some utterly bizarre reason, they appear to be terrified – utterly terrified – of cucumbers.
To be fair, there aren’t any videos of cats seeing a cucumber from a distance and then walking up to interrogate it, so perhaps it’s the unexpected sight of a cucumber behind them that’s frightening, not the cucumber itself: An unexpected pineapple would likely be just as jarring. As it turns out, Dr. Roger Mugford, a specialist in animal behavior, told the Telegraph: “I think that the reaction is due to the novelty and unexpectedness of finding an unusual object secretly placed whilst their heads were down in the food bowl.”
To be fair, there aren’t any videos of cats seeing a cucumber from a distance and then walking up to interrogate it, so perhaps it’s the unexpected sight of a cucumber behind them that’s frightening, not the cucumber itself: An unexpected pineapple would likely be just as jarring. As it turns out, Dr. Roger Mugford, a specialist in animal behavior, told the Telegraph: “I think that the reaction is due to the novelty and unexpectedness of finding an unusual object secretly placed whilst their heads were down in the food bowl.”
Cats are shown to be suspicious of anything that moves rapidly, makes a lot of noise, or lights up erratically: essentially, anything that they don’t fully understand, which isn’t really that different from most animals, including humans. It’s also worth noting that cats are mostly solitary animals, and humans are as sociable as animals can be – so they’re baffled enough by us as it is. Freaking them out with unexpected cucumbers probably isn’t helping.
“Cats have to be suspicious of the unknown: It could represent the danger of a snake or another predator,” Mugford continued. “I suspect that there would be the same reaction to a model spider, a plastic fish or a human face mask.”
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