9 ms·

I would be surprised if cats didn't do this, perceiving optical illusions just like we do. It's the sign of an advanced inference capable visual system. Other

I would be surprised if cats didn't do this, perceiving optical illusions just like we do. It's the sign of an advanced inference capable visual system. Otherwise, how could they be on alert for dangerous cucumbers in their territory for our amusement?

erulabs 5y ago
It's generally accepted that cats were useful for early humans because we hoarded grain, and so the cats were anti-rat machines. The anti-snake traits of kitties may be an older and just-as-useful reason we tolerated (and loved) cats than just protecting grain storage.
- sevencolors 5y ago
  Indeed mine have anti-snake protection capabilities that also cover items such as nailfiles, pens, and plastic toy springs
  - SwiftyBug 5y ago
    My cat's anti-snake protection manifests as an extreme hatred of earphone wires
    - dylan604 5y ago
      Lucky for your cat, headphones no longer need wires. In fact, I think Apple should include that in their marketing. "Not only have we reduced our packaging, we've also stop scaring your cats!"
      - mhh__ 5y ago
        Now your dog can eat the whole thing in one go!
    - SilasX 5y ago
      I named one of my cats Cordie because she liked to attack the (very antique) N64 controller cords.
- snickell 5y ago
  Curiously, I have a cat Brownie who grew up feral in the high sierras and appears to have subsisted on snakes as food/prey. They're still his favorite prey. Instead of startling, Brownie the mighty snake hunter reacts to cucumbers as: FAVORITE FOOD. He gets a cucumber almost every day. He hunts the cucumbers, drags them to his lair, and consumes them leaving only a small trail of seed viscera behind in his cave. He's been doing this before I knew about cucumbers scaring cats on internet, and I think lends credence to the hypothesis that cucumbers trigger a "snake recognition circuit": a cat raised to see snakes as food rather (vs the inborn threat response) reacts to cucumbers as food!
  - ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
    That's a cool story. Props to Brownie, but I hope he's fast enough to avoid being bitten by the few poisonous ones in the US. In Africa, most of the storks ate snakes; including really deadly ones. They would stomp them to death. That would probably not work on pit vipers.
    - dboat 5y ago
      I don't think there are any poisonous cucumbers in the us, his cat should be fine.
      - ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
        I dunno. When I was a kid, they would freak me out...
      - selimthegrim 5y ago
        Has anyone worked out how cats react to vampire watermelons?
      - astrange 5y ago
        Some common foods like grapes are poisonous to cats (for unknown reasons), there might be some tube-shaped vegetables too.
    - 5y ago
- euroderf 5y ago
  We "hoarded" grain because we transitioned from hunter-gatherers to an agro lifestyle in order to brew beer from that grain, so cats and beer are natural allies.
  - dylan604 5y ago
    I like your position that alcohol was the reason we switched to agrarian lifestyles.
    - B1FF_PSUVM 5y ago
      Sounds more plausible than "we did it for the porridge". But probably because you could feed ten times the population, develop better tech, and pound to a pulp any neighbors who didn't follow suit.
    - walshemj 5y ago
      It and wine also killed bacteria in water so allowed larger communities to form.
      - datameta 5y ago
        In the middle ages beer watered down to .5-1% alcohol was had when water supplies could not be guaranteed to be fresh
        perl4ever 5y ago
        You know, this is something people mention a lot on the internet since forever, and it reminds me of the assumption that mouthwash which is 20-25% alcohol must be for the purpose of killing germs. However, I recently read something that claimed to debunk this, saying that even 50 proof is not effective at all at sterilizing things and it is merely a solvent for the active ingredients. The reason I stumbled on it was because I'd been worrying about whether the alcohol free variants are effective, vs. alcohol potentially being a carcinogen. So I think it's less obvious what effect 1% alcohol has than at first glance.
- fortyrod 5y ago
  Ya, have a cat who took on 2 copperheads at once with great delight. I won't say I rescued him but I did get him out of there with some blood loss (mine). Maybe a study on the cat - mongoose correlation?
animal531 5y ago
They definitely can! Here is a cat interacting with a printout of the famous rotating snake illusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcXXQ6GCUb8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcXXQ6GCUb8

erulabs 5y ago

It's generally accepted that cats were useful for early humans because we hoarded grain, and so the cats were anti-rat machines. The anti-snake traits of kitties may be an older and just-as-useful reason we tolerated (and loved) cats than just protecting grain storage.

sevencolors 5y ago
Indeed mine have anti-snake protection capabilities that also cover items such as nailfiles, pens, and plastic toy springs
- SwiftyBug 5y ago
  My cat's anti-snake protection manifests as an extreme hatred of earphone wires
  - dylan604 5y ago
    Lucky for your cat, headphones no longer need wires. In fact, I think Apple should include that in their marketing. "Not only have we reduced our packaging, we've also stop scaring your cats!"
    - mhh__ 5y ago
      Now your dog can eat the whole thing in one go!
  - SilasX 5y ago
    I named one of my cats Cordie because she liked to attack the (very antique) N64 controller cords.
snickell 5y ago
Curiously, I have a cat Brownie who grew up feral in the high sierras and appears to have subsisted on snakes as food/prey. They're still his favorite prey. Instead of startling, Brownie the mighty snake hunter reacts to cucumbers as: FAVORITE FOOD. He gets a cucumber almost every day. He hunts the cucumbers, drags them to his lair, and consumes them leaving only a small trail of seed viscera behind in his cave. He's been doing this before I knew about cucumbers scaring cats on internet, and I think lends credence to the hypothesis that cucumbers trigger a "snake recognition circuit": a cat raised to see snakes as food rather (vs the inborn threat response) reacts to cucumbers as food!
- ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
  That's a cool story. Props to Brownie, but I hope he's fast enough to avoid being bitten by the few poisonous ones in the US. In Africa, most of the storks ate snakes; including really deadly ones. They would stomp them to death. That would probably not work on pit vipers.
  - dboat 5y ago
    I don't think there are any poisonous cucumbers in the us, his cat should be fine.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
      I dunno. When I was a kid, they would freak me out...
    - selimthegrim 5y ago
      Has anyone worked out how cats react to vampire watermelons?
    - astrange 5y ago
      Some common foods like grapes are poisonous to cats (for unknown reasons), there might be some tube-shaped vegetables too.
  - 5y ago
euroderf 5y ago
We "hoarded" grain because we transitioned from hunter-gatherers to an agro lifestyle in order to brew beer from that grain, so cats and beer are natural allies.
- dylan604 5y ago
  I like your position that alcohol was the reason we switched to agrarian lifestyles.
  - B1FF_PSUVM 5y ago
    Sounds more plausible than "we did it for the porridge". But probably because you could feed ten times the population, develop better tech, and pound to a pulp any neighbors who didn't follow suit.
  - walshemj 5y ago
    It and wine also killed bacteria in water so allowed larger communities to form.
    - datameta 5y ago
      In the middle ages beer watered down to .5-1% alcohol was had when water supplies could not be guaranteed to be fresh
      - perl4ever 5y ago
        You know, this is something people mention a lot on the internet since forever, and it reminds me of the assumption that mouthwash which is 20-25% alcohol must be for the purpose of killing germs. However, I recently read something that claimed to debunk this, saying that even 50 proof is not effective at all at sterilizing things and it is merely a solvent for the active ingredients. The reason I stumbled on it was because I'd been worrying about whether the alcohol free variants are effective, vs. alcohol potentially being a carcinogen. So I think it's less obvious what effect 1% alcohol has than at first glance.
fortyrod 5y ago
Ya, have a cat who took on 2 copperheads at once with great delight. I won't say I rescued him but I did get him out of there with some blood loss (mine). Maybe a study on the cat - mongoose correlation?

animal531 5y ago

They definitely can! Here is a cat interacting with a printout of the famous rotating snake illusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcXXQ6GCUb8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcXXQ6GCUb8