Animals staging their own deaths to fool predators is common. This behavior is called death feigning or thanatosis. When dice ...

But at least one population of dice snakes takes “playing possum”—also called “thanatosis” or “apparent death”—to the extreme. Not only will the snakes feign a painful death by ...

While many find the behavior amusing, experts suggest it may be a stress response known as thanatosis. The snake might be acting out of fear rather than play. This reaction has led to mixed ...