In the vast flat grassland, a possum meets a coyote, scared to run, but where can it run over the coyote! The coyote is about to catch up with the possum. The possum was anxious and afraid, and suddenly a stumbling, suddenly fell to the ground, eyes closed, mouth foam, limbs stiff, "dead" past.
The coyote coyote caught up, vigilantly inspected the possum, and found that it had stopped breathing, its heart was no longer beating, and it emitted a smell of rotten flesh, so it had to leave in disappointment.
Who knows, ten minutes after the coyote left, the possum woke up leisurely, saw that there was no threat, and quickly got up and slipped away. What's going on? It turned out that just now the possum had entered a state of suspended animation. When an animal is disturbed or attacked. It will lie still, or fall to the ground like a dead object, in order to avoid predators, this phenomenon is called "suspended animation".
The possum is a relatively primitive marsupial, it has many natural enemies, including coyotes, lynx, dogs, wild cats, etc., which forced it to practice a special survival trick - suspended animation. This trick helped it deceive many powerful enemies, and just now it suddenly "died" in front of the coyote, but it was just a repeat of the same trick.
Why is possum suspended animation able to fool cunning and savvy coyotes? The reason is that the means of pretending to die by possum rats are too clever. When it realizes that it is about to be captured, it will immediately fall to the ground, its face will suddenly darken, its mouth will be open, its belly will swell, and its body will continue to shake violently, and its expression is very painful.
This sudden situation will cause the pursuer to have a fear mentality, thinking that there is a special situation, and dare not act rashly. If the other party is not deceived, the possum will then use a second trick - from the stink gland next to the anus to discharge a foul-smelling yellow liquid, which can make the other party more convinced that it is dead and rotten. Most predators prefer to eat fresh prey, so they abandon the "dead possum."
Sharks also pretend to be dead
Although the shark has the title of "overlord of the sea", there are also fierce enemies in the sea that make it feel frightened - killer whales. Killer whales have sharp teeth and like to hunt dozens of heads in unison, basically winning every battle. In the face of such a strong opponent, the shark's first reaction is to flee immediately, and if it is too late to escape, it will pretend to die with its abdomen facing upwards in order to avoid the disaster. Because experience tells them that killer whales never eat dead things.
In fact, there are many animals in nature that pretend to be dead, such as possums, and they prey on or protect themselves through this behavior.
For example, someone once saw a hungry monkey pretend to be dying in order to prey on the crows in the trees, and then hold his belly with both hands, "fall" to the ground, and after a few rolls on the spot, he kicked his legs and twisted his neck, as if he had died.
When the deceived crow flew down to peck at the "dead monkey", the monkey suddenly jumped up, lightning grabbed the nearest crow, and then enjoyed it beautifully.
Unlike monkeys who pretend to be dead in order to hunt, the pig-nosed snake only performs this trick when it encounters a strong enemy: suddenly spasm, and then the belly lies on the ground, and if someone flips its body over and straightens it, it will immediately go over again, indicating that it is indeed a dead snake. In addition, lynx, crocodile lizards, pangolins, foxes, etc. are also good at pretending to be dead.
There have long been divergent views on the phenomenon of animals pretending to be dead. Some people say that some animals are not pretending to be dead, but a strange physiological reaction after being frightened by the outside world: a slow heartbeat and a shock of minutes to hours.
Researchers have studied the possum, and they found that when the possum is dead, there are many unconventional physiological phenomena, such as: its breathing and heartbeat are stopped, its body temperature drops sharply, and it emits a putrid odor.
Therefore, they believe that the possum is not pretending to be dead, but is frightened into shock. However, this perception has been questioned.
Some scientists believe that animal brain cells are able to constantly pulse, forming a bioelectric current. According to the characteristics of the brain's bioelectric current, it is possible to determine whether the animal is sleeping, numb, unconscious, or awake. Based on the above understanding, they used an instrument to detect several possum rats that were pretending to be dead.
The current map recorded by the instrument shows that when the opossum is dead, its brain cells have not stopped moving for a moment, and are even more active than usual. Apparently, they must also be nervously waiting for the opportunity to escape when they pretend to be dead, and they are neither unconscious nor shocked, but really pretending to be dead.
Pangolins are "dead" to eat
When the pangolin found the ant nest, it lay motionless near the nest and pretended to be dead. At this time, its scales are wide open, and its flesh emits an unpleasant odor under the sunlight to lure the ants forward. When the ant swooped out and crawled all over its body, the pangolin closed all the scales and rolled into the water, so that the ants were all floating on the surface of the water. Next, it begins to enjoy a delicious meal. #最会装死的动物 #
