A man was left baffled after encountering a huge snake playing dead in order to escape from being caught by the man.
The Indigo snake played dead after it was sighted
An amatuer herpetologist Eric Johnson of Mission, Texas was left in shock after encountering an Indigo snake faking broken neck just to escape being caught.
The incident happened after he came across the Indigo in Texas. The snake was playing dead, but feigning-death behavior is not uncommon in other species of snake.
In the clip johnson could be seen grabbing the harmless reptile, which can reach lengths of more than six feet. Suddenly the snake freezes and gapes its mouth, appearing to fake death.
“I didn’t realize they had that behavior,” says Johnson in the original video. “I am dumbfounded.”
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.
Species as varied as opossums, red flour beetles, and mallard ducks play dead as a strategy to deter predators.
Watch video below: