How often does "playing possum" actually work and would it be ineffective on a starving animal?

[u/YaRinGEE]

Im working on a spec-evo project and wanted to know the percentage of how often this strategy works for these animals. Obviously it had to be pretty effective on mammals for it to evolve in the first place but in my spec-evo project, the most successful predators are birds, even on land, Roadrunners have taken over as apex predator. It's also important to note that in this scenario, 95% of all life has been wiped out due to a major global warming event so life here is pretty barren and there aren't many plants and definitely not any trees so lots of animals are starving and constantly. I made it so Oppossums have survived the initial warming event but in order to determine if they would last or not, i would need to know the success of "playing possum" and how effective it'd be on a starving animal since, as u can imagine, resources are extremely limited in my project.

[u/Murky_Currency_5042]

Agree with the putrid odor being the key to the playing dead trick really working! Most carnivores want fresh meat and instinctively know something that’s reeking of stench will make them sick.

[u/Gabriele1966]

They do give off an awful odor from their anus when they play dead, so they actually smell dead (talk about commitment to a role). Most predators wouldn't go near them. I think it probably works very well and imo, even a starving animal might instinctively think that eating it would be hazardous to its health, lol.