Today, we are here to unveil one of the greatest mysteries of the cat world: why are cats afraid of cucumbers?

First of all, if you have no idea what I’m talking about, watch this hilarious compilation of cats reacting to our plain old cucumber:

So what’s going on in here and why all these cats run away just when seeing cucumbers?

As we see in this video, owners who wanted to scare the heck out of their pets placed a cucumber behind them while they were doing something else. When cats turned around, Hell was unleashed and they started acting crazy!

The reason behind their reaction is plain and simple: they are surprised. Cats pay plenty of attention to what’s around them, so when they turn around just to see a giant cucumber right at their face, it’s quite scary. I mean, how would you react if there was a vegetable suddenly on your desk?

All it took is for one cucumber-cat reaction video to become viral that every cat owner in the world started doing it. If you try this trick with a pineapple, for instance, the result will be the same. As animal behavior specialift Dr. Roger Mugford explained: ‘Cats have to be suspicious of the unknown: it could represent the danger of a snake or another predator.’

Well, let’s get our vegetables ready, shall we?