Snakes are really good at playing dead. The West Indian wood snake does a star turn. It is a small boa that when attacked curls itself up tightly. It then releases a liquid from special glands that gives out a rotting smell. To enhance the appearance of decay, it next releases blood into its eyes, turning them a dull, red colour.
The climax of the performance is the blood that the snake lets trickle from its apparently lifeless jaws. This it achieves by breaking open small capillaries in its mouth – called auto-haemorrhaging!
When threatened, a hognose snake will flatten its neck and raise its heads off the ground, cobra0like, and hiss. It may also pretend to strike. If this doesn’t impress the predator, it rolls onto its back and plays dead. The snake emits a foul odour and defecates. It lets its tongue hang out the mouth, sometimes dripping with blood. If rolled the right side up, it will promptly roll back as if to say, “Hey, I am really dead!”
All this time, the snake keeps an eye on the predator waiting for it to look away so that it can escape.
Even newly-hatched hognose snakes instinctively play dead when rats try to eat them.
Picture Credit : Google