The surprising reasons animals play dead - Tierney Thys

From lemurs to lizards, ants to amphibians, sharks to chickens, hundreds of animals "play dead" as a survival tactic. But how and why do animals do this? Tierney Thys explains how this curious behavior, known as tonic immobility or TI for short, can be used as a defense or offense.

Lesson by Tierney Thys, animation by Stretch Films Inc.

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[_smile_]

If a cockroach play dead
"Oh boy, I will make it real"

[illusionfaderr]

Once my dad caught an iguana.
The next day, the iguana was dead.
He opened the cage, turned around and when he turned back to the cage, the iguana was gone. He looked around and on the distance he saw the greenish animal achieving his way out of there. When he told me the story I almost died of laughter.

[zuko]

I played dead before going to school.

Didn't work :'(

[jacksrandomadventures]

what i learned:
1 owls shake their prey into submission
2 owls are as large as some scientists

[aleeyahmarie]

Playing dead for animals is the equivalent to humans pretending to sleep to get out of doing something lol😂😂

[this...isabucket.]

A similar tactic is found sometimes in game, where a player freezes and does not move at all, luring cocky enemies to emote or taunt the "afk" before killing them, at which point said player "resurrects" and finishes off the cocky enemy

[DragonActual]

YOU'RE VIOLATING THE GENEVA CONVENTION

[dumplings]

*YouTube* : why do animals play dead
*Me* : I don't need sleep, I need answers

[b.goodfellow]

“Silence is the most powerful scream”. Great statement! I know that when the emergency services attend an accident scene, it’s the silent people they go to first, as if you can scream, you are first and foremost conscious, but those who appear conscious, but remain silent and still, they may well have serious internal injuries. Well, that’s what I was told in a first aid session. 🙏🙏🙏

[durpddurke]

You know, what would a hyena react when its prey plays dead? Would it still eat the prey because it usually eats carcasses?

[olly]

Bully:I’m going to punch you
Me: *plays dead*
Bully:im going jail

[imdrum]

There are actually four "F"s that make the Fight Or Freeze response! Those are Fight (pretty self explanatory), Freeze (not being able to move), Flight (running away) and Fawn (trying to appease the attacker). Thought you guys in the comment section might want to know :)

[explolsivecake]

I used to have chickens, we had an excitable dog and one day he actually caught one of them. So me and my family see this limp chicken in the dogs mouth. We shout at him to stop, he does. About 15seconds later, the chicken gets back up and just kinda, goes back to whatever it was doing.

[thesandwich]

This explains a lot! Me and my dad were on a trip and we'd just come out of a cave when there was a landslide right above us. We just froze. We were alright, it wasn't a big one, but neither of us could understand why we hadn't run.

[azizuladnan]

The drawing for this animation is different than usual. It's not too childish, and it's very unique! I love it XD

[milansaric]

Silence is the most powerful scream. Just like that.-0:24

[katowo]

1:00
What's that color palette about

[JustinY.]

We don't have to pretend to, I mean we are all slowly dying anyway

[snehanjalisahoo]

Those animation had me really laughing like a loon. And now I understand why in television show the person going to be hit doesn't move away and just stand there like a statue, waiting to be hit. Guess, those script writers know more science than me. 😅

[Blueshark]

"You are violating the Genova Conventions" killed me xD
Thank you for this educational video :)