ANIMALS WHICH SHAM DEATH 25 



suffered a portion of the skin of its face to be 

 removed before it gave any signs of life. This 

 incident, horrible though it be to relate, is a wonder- 

 ful illustration of the extent to which an animal 

 will suffer with a view to its self preservation ; and 

 in the case of a creature of such a high mental 

 development as a dog, there can be little doubt 

 that the instinct which teaches it in the first place 

 to resort to such a practice is augmented and ren- 

 dered more efficient by a reasoning power which 

 enables it to look ahead and to gauge the result of 

 its actions. 



The American opossum is equally proficient in 

 feigning death, and, when captured, will suffer 

 itself to be beaten without giving any signs of life, 

 even carrying its deception to such a high pitch of 

 perfection as to lie with its tongue protruding from 

 its mouth. 



The fox-like animal of South America, known as 

 Azara's dog, is also addicted to the death-feigning 

 practice. Mr. Hudson, in his well-known book The 

 Naturalist in La Plata, tells us that : ' When a fox ' 

 (the popular name of the animal in its native 

 country) ' is caught in a trap or run down by dogs 

 he fights savagely at first, but by-and-by relaxes 

 his efforts, drops on the ground, and apparently 

 yields up the ghost. The deception is so well 

 carried out, that dogs are constantly taken in by it, 

 and no one, not previously acquainted with this 

 clever trickery of nature, but would at once pro- 

 nounce the creature dead, and worthy of some 

 praise for having perished in so brave a spirit.' If, 



