With a long muzzle and slender body, an interminable tail, short legs and ears, the mongoose goes on and on. Courageous and cunning, the mongooses are always cute and faster. They are always busy playing in groups, not making sounds but screaming and are quick to change their motion as soon as they are dreaded. If any trespasser enters their territory, they all scurry off to safety underground. But this dwarf mongoose in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve in South Africa seems to have better plans. In a video posted by WildEarth.tv as a part of a program, Safari Live, a cute little dwarf mongoose is seen to repeatedly act as dead in front of a hornbill.

Yes, the video shows how the juvenile dwarf mongoose is repeatedly walking to a southern yellow-billed hornbill and then lying over as a dead one. As the little one was having its share of fun, the bird on the other hand does not seem impressed! The dwarf mongoose was continuously rolling over, playing dead as soon as the bird turns.

Watch the Video of the Dwarf Mongoose Plays Dead for a Hornbill

The little dwarf mongoose continued its act for quite a long time. Was the mongoose playing dead because it was scared of the bird? Or was it just having fun? Julie Kern, an honorary research associate at the United Kingdom’s University of Bristol and founder of the Dwarf Mongoose Research Project told the National Geographic, “In my opinion this is not a case of them playing dead, rather attempting to play with the hornbill.” While Lynda Sharpe, a behavioural ecologist at Stellenbosch University in South Africa had different opinion. Sharpe believes that dwarf mongooses will only roll on their backs when playing with other mongooses. The same report quoted Sharpe saying, “I’ve spent 11 years studying full-time the behaviour of dwarf mongooses, but I’ve never seen them invite play from a bird before.”

Well, whatever the reason is, the little dwarf mongoose acting dead is quite a delight to see. It will not be wrong saying that they are quite good actors!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 04, 2018 09:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).