Thanatosis

Thanatosis, or death feigning, is a behavior in which an animal takes on the appearance of being dead, typically through tonic immobility, a state of temporary paralysis and unresponsiveness to outside stimuli. It occurs across an unusually wide range of animals, from insects and crustaceans to fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, including the opossum's famous habit of playing possum. Most commonly it functions as an anti-predator defense, since many predators prefer to kill living prey themselves, though a few species, such as some cichlid fish, use apparent death as a form of aggressive mimicry to lure other animals close enough to attack; some animals that feign death remain conscious throughout and continue to monitor their surroundings. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/