You’ve most likely seen the movies as you scroll by your social media feed: It begins with a cat minding their very own enterprise, calmly consuming kibble or moist meals. Behind the feline, nonetheless, sits a cucumber. Because the cat finishes their meal and turns, they spy the darkish inexperienced, cylindrical object, and the calm scene turns to chaos. The cat skitters and jumps, typically reaching unnatural heights, speeding to flee … a cucumber?

The viral movies presume that cats are afraid of cucumbers, however cat consultants aren’t so positive. Whereas the consultants we interviewed agree the movies do showcase terrified cats, they don’t consider cucumbers are the issue. It’s really the house owners, they are saying. 

We don’t know a lot about cat habits. Because the New York Occasions lately reported, cats are vastly understudied. Some consultants have theorized that the cucumber would possibly appear to be a snake, which may trigger cats hurt within the wild, however Katenna Jones, a cat and canine behaviorist and proprietor of Jones Animal Conduct, isn’t so positive. 

“It may very well be there’s some kind of evolutionary factor the place they suppose it’s a snake as a result of their primitive ancestors had been eaten by snakes,” Jones mentioned. However, in her lengthy expertise residing with and dealing with cats, they often may care much less about cucumbers and different equally formed objects. In a YouTube video, she confirmed a cat barely sniffing a cucumber, in addition to a carrot and Twix bar. 

What we do know, nonetheless, is that cats earn their “scaredy-cat” moniker for a cause: They’re a prey species, and, within the wild, they’re all the time on excessive alert for attackers, Jones mentioned.

“It takes lots for them to place their head down and put their again to a large open area to really feel secure sufficient to eat,” Jones mentioned. “And after they do it again and again and over and nothing occurs to them, then they simply kind of assume that it’s going to be secure to try this.”

In different phrases, the movies start once we see cats who’ve been allowed to exist in a secure area and belief that they will take a minute to eat with out fearing for his or her lives. However then, sooner or later, an object that appears large to them is positioned behind them, sparking that dramatic response as they flip to go away their meals bowl.

Their response, Jones mentioned, isn’t any totally different from once we hop into the bathe and are stunned by an enormous spider. “It’s going to scare the crap out of you,” she mentioned. “And [the cucumber] is a big, darkish object that’s out of the blue behind them.” 

“I believe it’s only a mixture of them being a prey species and on edge for his or her security in a second of being utterly relaxed and this huge, darkish object seems proper behind them,” Jones added.

Jane Ehrlich, a feline behaviorist with Cattitude Feline Conduct Counseling, additionally wonders what else is going on behind the scenes within the video. Did the individual recording the video make a noise? Was there another off-camera movement that scared the cat? 

What do the cats’ reactions to the cucumbers inform us? 

Each Ehrlich and Jones agree, nonetheless, that the movies present all of the telltale indicators of a cat experiencing excessive stress. “They’re doing what cats do to flee predators,” Jones mentioned. 

In these movies, the cat being filmed usually jumps straight up into the air with an arched again, with their  fur overrated in an effort to seem bigger and extra threatening. “It’s defensive, not offensive,” Ehrlich mentioned of their reactions. “That’s undoubtedly concern.”  

If these fearful moments are a one-off incident, the cat will seemingly be advantageous. However persistent stressors can exacerbate compulsive behaviors, aggression, and well being points, reminiscent of pores and skin and digestive sensitivity, Jones mentioned. It may additionally fracture your relationship together with your pet. 

What’s a greater strategy to have enjoyable together with your cat? 

There are much better methods to chuckle together with your cat as a substitute of at them. Give your pet some company, Jones suggested. For those who’re holding your pet Garfield and he desires to get down, let him get down. (Don’t, nonetheless, give him the lasagne he calls for.)

Enable your cat to have totally different experiences, so you’ll be able to uncover their character, Jones mentioned. For instance, considered one of her cats loves “serving to” her make the mattress every morning. One other loves twisty ties from a loaf of bread.

And play the way in which your cat is telling you they wish to play, Ehrlich mentioned. Some cats, for instance, would possibly gravitate towards toys that resemble floor prey reminiscent of a lizard, whereas others could take pleasure in toys that mimic birds. 

Simply don’t attempt to scare your cat, Jones mentioned. “Worry isn’t humorous for the one which’s receiving it.”

This story is a part of Common Science’s Ask Us Something collection, the place we reply your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the strange to the off-the-wall. Have one thing you’ve all the time wished to know? Ask us.