In nature, many animals are often faced with the dangers posed by predators. Many animal species, when faced with danger, adopt curious strategies to avoid being preyed upon and to defend themselves: one of these strategies is to fake their own death. This strategy can be useful to ward off a distracted predator, to stall and escape, or to avoid direct attack.
This is a strategy that can help some animals survive, as some predators may be disinterested in an immobile prey, believing it to be already dead, and in this way the animal has a chance to escape.
Let's discover together five animal species that use this tactic!
In nature, many animals are often faced with the dangers posed by predators. Many animal species, when faced with danger, adopt curious strategies to avoid being preyed upon and to defend themselves: one of these strategies is to feign their own death. This strategy can be useful to ward off a distracted predator, to stall and escape, or to avoid direct attack. This is a strategy that can help these animals survive, as some predators may be disinterested in immobile prey, believing it to be already dead, and in this way the animal has a chance to escape. Let's discover together five animal species that use this tactic!
Di Cody Pope - Wikipedia:User:Cody.pope, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?cur
The Virginia opossum is a marsupial mammal that, in order to survive, can play dead in the presence of a predator. If it fails to escape or intimidate the attacker, it enters a state of tonic immobility that can last for several hours.
The common fox uses the tactic of pretending to be dead to catch prey, such as crows, who approach it believing it to be carrion, but then are in turn caught and eaten.
Young workers of this ant species adopt the strategy of tanatosis to avoid confrontation with neighboring colonies and live longer, while adults prefer direct confrontation.
The Phyllomedusa burmeisteri is a species of Brazilian frog that pretends to be dead when the toxins it produces are not sufficient to defend itself from predators, thus adopting the tactic of tonic immobility to ward off the attacker.
The European wild rabbit, although agile and fast, adopts the tactic of tanatosis when it is unable to escape from a nearby predator, hoping to distract it and have a chance to escape, but if the predator is not fooled it may still feed on the carcass.