abstract:Apparent death, colloquially known as playing dead or playing possum, is a behavior observed in a wide range of animals which take on the appearance of being dead to an observer. This form of animal deception can be either an involuntary reflex action as in tonic immobility, or, an adaptive behavior as in thanatosis.
Mr Assad senior plucked his son from an ophthalmology course in London and brought him to Syria as heir-apparent on the death of his brother, Basil, in 1994.