The hognose snake ( Heterodon platirhinos) of the eastern U.S. ( Read about how high-speed video debunked a snake myth.) That said, even in experimental settings, snakes have shown themselves to be some of nature’s most dramatic death-scene actors. He cautions, however, that death-feigning snakes are not well documented with natural predators: Most studies on the behavior come from people handling wild-caught snakes. “It might work, for example, if a predator’s attention wanes because the snake isn’t moving and it looks elsewhere, allowing the snake to escape.” “I think of it as a last-resort tactic,” says Gregory. Species as varied as opossums, red flour beetles, and mallard ducks play dead as a strategy to deter predators. New reports of snake death-feigning are frequently added to the scientific literature, he adds: “It’s an occasional behavior for lots of species, and a behavior for some,” he says. The video marks the first time Gregory has seen film of the behavior in indigo snakes, though he notes that in 2010, a researcher reported death-feigning in the closely related eastern indigo snake. “It wasn’t a full-blown display, but it had important elements, a contorted body and an open mouth.” Patrick Gregory of Canada’s University of Victoria, an expert on snake behavior, agreed that the video shows a snake pretending to be dead. Herpetologist Toby Hibbitts of Texas A&M University confirmed that the video shows a death-feigning Texas indigo snake, noting that he has personally seen indigo snakes fake death before. “I am dumbfounded.” (Also see “ The Living Dead: Animals That Pretend to Go Belly-Up.”)
“I didn’t realize they had that behavior,” says Johnson in the original video. Suddenly the snake freezes and gapes its mouth, appearing to fake death. In the clip- first published online in mid-November-amateur herpetologist Eric Johnson of Mission, Texas, filmed himself grabbing the harmless reptile, which can reach lengths of more than six feet. A video of a snake playing dead has surfaced online, thought to be unusual for the Texas indigo snake.
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