WHY ARE CATS SCARED OF CUCUMBERS?
Source: Metro (Extract)
Posted: January 8, 2022
Oh, cats – what would the internet be without them?
A favourite house pet for many, our feline friends have kept us entertained and swooning and puzzled for generations. And, as the online world increasingly becomes a staple in 2022 living, there are plenty of sections of the web fully dedicated to all the quirks that come with a cat – why they like catnip and what their sleeping position really means.
Though it’s well-documented that cats and dogs can often have a less than friendly relationship, cats and cucumbers are similarly at odds – there are plenty of videos across the web showing that if you place a cucumber behind or beside a cat, it’ll cause the animal to leap away in fright and surprise when it eventually notices the vegetable.
A pretty funny prank, sure – but also, a strange reaction for a cat to have to a mere piece of food.
So, why does the vegetable give so many cats the fright of their lives?
Why are cats afraid of cucumbers?
One guess as to why the cylindrical green salad item gives cats a shock is that they resemble snakes.
Con Slobodchikoff, animal behaviourist and author of Chasing Doctor Dolittle: Learning the Language of Animals, told ABC News: ‘Cats are genetically hard-wired through instinct to avoid snakes.
‘Cucumbers look enough like a snake to have the cat’s instinctive fear of snakes kick in.’
However, it may have nothing to do with a cucumber’s serpentine appearance – the fact that it is placed behind a cat without warning could also be an explanation for the shocked reaction.
Jill Goldman, also a certified animal behaviourist, told National Geographic that the cucumbers were triggering the cats’ natural startle reflexes.
‘With a startle response, a cat will often try to get out of there as quickly as possible and then reassess from a distance.’
Whatever the reason, National Geographic advises against trying out this experiment on your cat.
Reports have concluded that intentionally trying to surprise your cat could cause it to injure themselves, break something, or lead to prolonged stress.
