Apparent death, colloquially known as playing dead or playing possum, is a behavior in which an animal takes on the appearance of being dead. This form of animal deception is an adaptive behavior also known as tonic immobility or thanatosis. Apparent death can be used as a defense mechanism or as a form of aggressive mimicry, and occurs in a wide range of animals. wikipedia

ROA ! Flickr

About ROA

ROA is a muralist and contextual artist originating from Belgium. ROA paints large scale murals often only with a black and white color palette and depicts the circle of animal life in relation to humanity and civilization. During the past several years he has painted hundreds of animal walls around the globe. As an artist nomad his travels lead him into the African savannah, the Asian tropics, the American prairie, to the Australian outback. He has left his landmark walls in major cities as Mexico City, San Juan, London, Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, Johannesburg, Montreal, and Sydney.

ROA was also invited to be part of the Art in the Streets exhibition at MOCA Los Angeles in 2011; he has exhibited his art in galleries throughout Europe, Australia, and the United States.