While cats are definitely cute, I’m not sure I really buy into the whole idea that they’re still skilled predators. Sure, house cats are much more likely to bag game than many other popular pets, such as hamsters or goldfish, but I think centuries of domestication have bred out a lot of the instincts that came from their shared ancestry with lions and tigers.

As proof, I offer this video of a cat in Japan, in which the “hunter” becomes the hunted and meets its match when, defying all logic, a cucumber sneaks up on it.

Recently, Japanese Twitter user Marina-san was hanging around the house, half-heartedly watching a TV variety program, if the background noise of the video is anything to go by. Instead of keeping her eyes on the screen, though, she turned her camera lens to her cat, which was eating out of its bowl in front of the refrigerator.

By the way, did you notice the large cucumber lying on the floor behind the kitty? If so, give yourself a pat on the back, because you’re one step ahead of the animal itself.

https://twitter.com/Lemoned_izm/status/618098237363195904

“Nothing on the right…nothing to the left… Oh God! Cucumber! Cucumber! CUCUMBER!!!”

So funny that my cat would freak out over a cucumber,” laughs Marina-san. Online commenters offered the theories that maybe the animal mistook the vegetable for a giant green bug or snake, but we think it might just be that the cat’s cushy existence as a pampered pet had dulled its senses and skills. It’s really a good thing that Marina-san sets out food for her pet, since it probably wouldn’t last long in the wild when even inanimate objects can get the drop on it.

Source: Twitter/@Lemoned_izm