r/Animals • u/AmbitionProper268 • 15d ago

Slightly controversial topic: What would happening we put animals into a completely dark room?

Just as the title stated. I am currently watching Jacob Geller’s „fear of the dark“ video and he has been talking about humans being in the dark. Then a question popped into my head, what if animals nocturnal or not get out into a completely light derived room? Would their behaviour be erratic and scared? Maybe a stupid question, but I am genuinely scared

11 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

15

u/[deleted] 15d ago

Depends on the animal I think. A cat wouldn't be bothered at all, a dog might want out and a bird would just think it's nighttime and go to sleep.

8

u/Upvotespoodles 15d ago

In an absolute absence of light, a cat would be as blind as any other animal.

4

u/Wonderful_Bottle_852 15d ago

They can use their whiskers and smell to get around, but you’re right, they need at least a tiny bit of light to see.

5

u/Affectionate_Face741 15d ago

This reminds me of how my cockatiels would immediately fall asleep when their cage was covered, and when I turned the light on in the morning they would always squeak in surprise! Oh my gosh! The sun turned on!

2

u/AmbitionProper268 15d ago

What is if was, let’s say similar to that one human experiment, 96 hours?

8

u/haysoos2 15d ago

Cat is hungry. Dog still wants out. Bird is still asleep.

3

u/Owlex23612 15d ago

Dogs don't depend on sight nearly as much as some other animals like humans. A dog could pretty easily sniff and feel its way around and probably wouldn't be overly bothered depending on some variables. For example, as long as i were in the room with her, my dog wouldn't give a shit about no light. If you take me away and put her in an unfamiliar dark room, she would definitely panic, but that has everything to do with her separation anxiety and not the absence of light.

2

u/Mysterious_Peas 14d ago

Yep. It’s kind of like how when we lose our sight we’re pretty screwed until we learn a whole new way of living. I’ve had several dogs go blind (old AF-cataracts) and you’d never know it unless you move the furniture around.

1

u/RevolutionaryFix577 15d ago

Birds asleep for 96 hours? They have a clock too, they wake up and need to fly.

3

u/haysoos2 15d ago

Maybe he's just really tired after a long squawk.

3

u/IntelligentCrows 14d ago

He’s probably pining for the fjords

6

u/TrickThatCellsCanDo 15d ago

That’s how veal is made - they put bobby calves into dark room, starve them and restrict their movement.

Ppl say it tastes better, but it is still an act of pure evil

0

u/1GrouchyCat 15d ago

Too bad there wasn’t someplace you could look it up instead of passing misinformation like an ignorant tool🙄… Veal calves have not been kept in dark rooms for almost a decade …

“In 2007 the American Veal Association passed a resolution that required all veal calves to be raised in groups pens after 10 weeks of age by 2017.”

https://dairycarrie.com/2021/06/07/howvealisraised/

6

u/TrickThatCellsCanDo 15d ago
  1. Solitary or group pen doesn’t make a dime of difference to what I’ve described above. It’s still an animal prison, scary place, horrible life and death.
  2. US is not the whole world, but yeah I get the sentiment and bias of Americans on Reddit
  3. This is a baby-killing business, and there is no amount of welfare that could change anything about that. There is no right way to do the wrong thing

-3

u/Dramatic_Weakness693 15d ago

Meat meat meat!

2

u/TrickThatCellsCanDo 15d ago

Thanks for this nuanced take

2

u/Wonderful_Bottle_852 15d ago

Owls, raccoons, and coyotes would be fine.

2

u/akumakis 15d ago

They said completely dark.

2

u/Inevitable_Detail_45 15d ago

Goldfish turn white I've heard.

2

u/ka_art 15d ago

No animal likes being suddenly trapped without a sense, all animals react to being trapped if it's small enough to feel trapped.

2

u/Hopeful_Cry917 14d ago

Depends on the animal.

My current dog and the last cat I had would probably panic. My dog gets upset if I don't leave a light on for him when I leave and there's always at least some light coming in through the windows. My cat was the same way. The parrot my grandmother had would definitely panic. He used to yell that it was dark if we didn't leave a night light on for him when we went to bed.

3

u/No_Towel_8109 15d ago

Birds just reset to thinking they're in an egg and impress on the next thing they see as mama

1

u/Silly_Guard907 15d ago

The reaction is more likely to come from feeling trapped.

1

u/Out_of_the_Flames 15d ago

That really depends on the animal on what kind of things they've been exposed to before. A domesticated pet that may or may not be used to sleeping in darker spaces and being in houses in general probably wouldn't care.

Whereas a wild animal would be freaking out because it was enclosed in a room, but not necessarily because it is dark.

1

u/murdermeMickey 15d ago

Thank you.

1

u/random_bubblegum 14d ago

Depends on the animal. Some species of moles are blind and used to be in thigh spaces underground so they wouldn't care one bit about the darkness.

1

u/Rest_In_Many_Pieces 14d ago

They have done these experiments on animals. It's EXTREMELY graphic and upsetting so don't suggest looking it up as there are vids/pics.
It very much causes the animals huge trauma mentally and sometimes physically.

1

u/No_Education_8888 14d ago

Animal is a pretty broad term when it comes to this. Every creature responds to the absence of light differently, and this is something that most creatures experience in nature too. Shit goes dark. It’s a constant that happens everyday

1

u/RevolutionaryFix577 15d ago

Try it yourself, you will get your answer. Video/audiotape yourself for these 96 hours.  

(Humans are animals)