
Stop Scaring Your Cats with Cucumbers - DHJSH
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/151117-cats-cucumbers-videos-behavior/
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DrScump
Cucumbers and cats have always been natural enemies in the wild. (Do no cats
eat pickles?)

But seriously, I'm not a fan of _any_ of this ambush-fright video trend. The
gags that Jimmy Kimmel, for example, has parents play on kids to video their
panicked reactions make me sick. (For example, the recent "we ate all of your
Halloween candy" theme.)

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nataliam511
I think any animal would be startled if they started eating and a new object
was covertly placed behind them... including humans. Cats aren't afraid of
cucumbers, they're afraid of strange things in strange places.

~~~
coldtea
Well, they don't get scared by all kinds of strange things in strange places,
so this theory falls apart a little there.

Cucumbers (and zuccini etc) seem to work much better, probably because they
remind them of snakes and other long animals.

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DHJSH
These owners in some of the videos will regret scaring their cats near their
litterboxes, if the cat becomes afraid of the area.

(I have no rules for my indoor cats because I don't want them to become
neurotic. I don't try to "train" them off of countertops, etc.)

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coldtea
> _“If you cause stress to an animal that 's probably not a good thing,” says
> Jill Goldman, a certified animal behaviorist in southern California. “If you
> do it for laughs it makes me question your humanity.”_

And I question his/hers intelligence.

People do pranks and scare other people for laughs all the time and we don't
question their humanity. And suddenly pranking a cat with a cucumber makes you
subhuman?

~~~
jleyank
I think it's the asymmetry of the relationship. Pranking another human is an
interaction of equals. Pranking something that's (totally) dependent on you,
and lacks anything resembling the same world view, is a bit more cruel. But
hey, people have pets for all sorts of reasons, right?

~~~
coldtea
> _I think it 's the asymmetry of the relationship. Pranking another human is
> an interaction of equals._

A tennis match is an interaction of equals (if you're at a comparable skill
level).

Pranking hardly, since the prankster knows things the other person does not,
and even puts elaborate plots and props against his prank target.

And of course some pranksters have whole teams to help them out (e.g. some
college prank where 3 persons prank another etc). Or even whole crews, as in
TV pranks.

Is Aston Kutcher inhuman for doing Punk'd?

The reason I don't consider it inhuman (inherently I mean, sometimes it can be
when overboard) is that while it causes a little stress/surprise etc, it's
usually good natured, and don't mean to do actual harm to the target.

