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Death-shamming, death-feigning, playing dead, and thanatosis are all words that describe the process whereby animals pretend to be dead in the hope of being left alone by a perceived threat. When encountered, the Rinkhals (Hemachatus haemechatus) will often take every opportunity to escape. When cornered they will lift nearly half of their body off the ground and spread a large hood in an attempt to intimidate the perceived threat. Once hooded, the… Read More
Category: Popular Science Tags: acting dead, africa, animal, cobra, death feigning, death shammimg, defence, eastern cape, grahamstown, hemachatus, herpetology, herping, nature, playing dead, reptile behaviour, rhodes university, rinkhals, snake defence, south africa, spitting cobra, thanatosis, venom, wildlife