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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey

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Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbon Here. It happens less often than

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Speaker 1: you might think, but when Virginia apossums get seriously frightened,

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Speaker 1: they sometimes react by feigning death, and such less ditch

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Speaker 1: dramatics aren't limited to mammals. The animal behavior of playing

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Speaker 1: dead is called thanatosis. Much of the time, it's a

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Speaker 1: hail merry effort to stay alive. The creatures who use

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Speaker 1: this strategy tend to be small and slow moving against

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Speaker 1: a bigger, faster predator. The typical fight or flight response

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Speaker 1: doesn't always work, and the good news is predators might

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Speaker 1: not touch and otherwise easy meal if it goes into thanatosis.

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Speaker 1: Every class of vertebrate animals includes a few species here

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Speaker 1: and there who confuse their attackers by pretending to expire.

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Speaker 1: And it turns out that you don't need feet to

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Speaker 1: convince someone that you've kicked the bucket. Enter stage left.

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Speaker 1: A few of the best reptilian actors you'll ever meet

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Speaker 1: the hognose snakes of North America. Hognose snakes have facial

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Speaker 1: scales that give them frankly adorable upturned snouts. It's sort

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Speaker 1: of like a pig's These are used to push aside dirt, sand,

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Speaker 1: and leaf litter as they search for food. The North

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Speaker 1: American species belonged to the snake genus Heterodon. Other so

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Speaker 1: named hognose snakes dwell in Madagascar and South America, but

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Speaker 1: even though all three groups have upturned noses, they're classified

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Speaker 1: under separate genera f y I. Genera is the plural

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Speaker 1: version of genus, not genuses technically, and now you know,

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Speaker 1: And as g I. Joe always said, knowing is half

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Speaker 1: the battle. Heterodon snakes occur from the United States eastern

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Speaker 1: seaboard to Arizona and the Rocky Mountains in the Great Outdoors.

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Speaker 1: You can find them as far north as Central Canada

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Speaker 1: and as far south as central Mexico. The genus includes

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Speaker 1: three distinct species. Among them, the largest is the Eastern

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Speaker 1: hawk Nos, which can grow to about or a hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifteen centimeters long. At that size, it's almost twice

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Speaker 1: as big as its cousin, the Southern hawk Nos. Surrounding

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Speaker 1: out the trio is the charming Western or planes hog Nos.

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Speaker 1: Like all snakes, Hognoses are carnivores, and they're best known

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Speaker 1: for hunting down toads. While the snakes do not constrict,

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Speaker 1: they do inject a mild venom through a pair of

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Speaker 1: large fangs housed near the back of the mouth. Toads

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Speaker 1: come with their own anti predator defenses, though a one

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Speaker 1: technique the amphibians may use involves puffing themselves up to

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Speaker 1: appear bigger. Some naturalists than cognoses can counter that trick

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Speaker 1: in a pretty griesome way, though this has not been

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Speaker 1: actually documented. Heterodont snakes may be using their fangs to

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Speaker 1: puncture the lungs of the toads they consume. Of deflated

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Speaker 1: toad is no doubt easier to swallow, and besides toads,

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Speaker 1: hog noses eat fish, blizzards, rodents, salamanders, small birds, eggs,

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Speaker 1: and invertebrates like earthworms. However, higher up on the food chain, hawks, apossums, raccoons,

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Speaker 1: and foxes have all been known to make a meal

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Speaker 1: of a hog nose. So will a few other snakes,

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Speaker 1: including the cotton mouth, and when faced with danger like this,

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Speaker 1: a frightened heterodon snake may put on a show. Eastern

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Speaker 1: hog noses try to intimidate foes by flattening their necks

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Speaker 1: and rearing up with a threatening hiss. They've thus earned

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Speaker 1: the nickname puff adders. But unlike real adders, Heterodon snakes

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Speaker 1: don't rely on their venom as a means of self defense. Remember,

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Speaker 1: hog nosed fangs are situated towards the back of the mouth.

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Speaker 1: Because of this dental arrangement, the snakes have two more

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Speaker 1: or less chew on the target before any venom can

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Speaker 1: be administered. Since that's not an efficient way to drive

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Speaker 1: off bigger animals, wild hog noses seldom bite their attackers.

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Speaker 1: But let's get back to the theatrics. When it comes

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Speaker 1: to playing dead. Hawknosed snakes pull out all the stops.

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Speaker 1: You might say, they go whole. Hog hawk nose in

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Speaker 1: the throes of thanatosis will writhe around wildly, then go

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Speaker 1: belly up. It hangs its mouth open, tongue dramatically dangling.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes it regurgitates food or releases its bowels in the process,

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Speaker 1: which really grabs up the yuck factor. And actually, there

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Speaker 1: may be something extra repellent about Heterodon fecal matter. Toads

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Speaker 1: that get eaten by the snakes carry a poison called buphotoxin.

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Speaker 1: Perhaps the scent of hawknos poop that's chuck full of

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Speaker 1: this stuff encourages other animals to stay away. Even experts

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Speaker 1: have questions about the purpose of the act and how

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Speaker 1: it developed in hognose snakes. Clearly, it's an innate behavior.

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Speaker 1: Even scared hatchlings will play dead, and not all actors

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Speaker 1: show equal dedication, though a one scientist observed a pair

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Speaker 1: of adult Eastern hog noses that decided to fake their

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Speaker 1: own deaths while still connected in sexual intercourse. Apparently, the

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Speaker 1: female snake broke character before her partner did, and then

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Speaker 1: dragged him behind her for a considerable distance. And if

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Speaker 1: you flip a hog nose over in the middle of

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Speaker 1: its dead snake routine, it's liable to roll back over

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Speaker 1: and reassume the death pose. Hog Noses are less disposed

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Speaker 1: to playing dead in a captive setting, as long as

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Speaker 1: they're not stressed easily housed in a twenty gallon or terrarium,

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Speaker 1: the snakes can make wonderful pets. I know one named Henry,

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Speaker 1: and I love him. A Western hog noses are especially

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Speaker 1: popular with keepers and breeders alike, and despite being minimous,

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Speaker 1: Heterodon snakes rarely bite larger creatures people included, and the

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Speaker 1: venom these reptiles carry isn't considered dangerous to humans, though

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Speaker 1: getting injected with it may lead to blisters, swelling, and

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Speaker 1: other symptoms. Such accidents most often occur when the snakes

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Speaker 1: els food on its owner's fingers, and you can avoid

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Speaker 1: that problem by washing your hands thoroughly before each interaction.

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Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article hog nosed snakes

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Speaker 1: play dead like apossums on how stuff works dot Com,

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Speaker 1: written by Mark Mancini. Brain Stuff is production by Heart

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Speaker 1: Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com, and

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Speaker 1: it's produced by Tyler Klang. Before more podcasts from my

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Speaker 1: heart Radio because at the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,