About

Cats vs. Cucumbers is a series of videos featuring domestic cats startled by cucumbers that have been placed out of their immediate line of sight.

Origin

On May 10th, 2015, YouTuber Doki Doki uploaded footage of a cat jumping high in the air after being surprised by a large green cucumber laying on the floor behind it (shown below). Within six months, the video gained over 2.2 million views and 110 comments.

Precursors

Since as early as 2006, YouTubers have uploaded videos featuring cats attacking computer printers as if they were alive. On March 9th, 2010, YouTuber HaileyTube uploaded footage of a cat being startled by a banana while resting on a couch (shown below, left). On February 12th, 2015, YouTuber The Dodo uploaded a montage of clips featuring cats frightened by bananas (shown below, right).

Spread

On July 8th, 2015, a GIF of YouTuber Doki Doki's cat video was submitted to the /r/StartledCats^[6] subreddit, where it received more than 5,700 votes (96% upvoted) and 120 comments. On July 17th, Redditor Myranda created the /r/CucumbersScaringCats^[1] subreddit. On October 23rd, The Telegraph^[4] published an article titled "Cats are terrified of cucumbers and no one knows exactly why," in which animal behavior specialist Dr. Roger Mugford attempted to explain the behavior:

"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."

On November 11th, YouTuber MrFunnyMals uploaded a compilation video of cats being startled by cucumbers (shown below, left). Within one week, the video received over 1.9 million views and 190 comments. On November 15th, the Link-Wall YouTube channel uploaded another montage video titled "Cats Vs. Cucumbers" (shown below, right).

On November 17th, National Geographic^[2] published an article about the cat videos titled "People Are Scaring Their Cats with Cucumbers. They Shouldn’t," featuring a statement by animal behaviorist Jill Goldman condemning the practice of scaring cats with cucumbers:

"If you cause stress to an animal that's probably not a good thing. If you do it for laughs it makes me question your humanity."

The day, the article was submitted to the /r/nottheonion^[5] subreddit, where it gathered upwards of 4,200 (84% upvoted) and 1,200 comments within 24 hours.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References