Female dragonflies fake their deaths to avoid unwanted mates.

If someone you weren’t interested in was pursuing you and couldn’t take a hint, would you play dead? That’s exactly what female moorland hawker dragonflies do. Also known as common hawkers, these dragonflies have been observed suddenly dropping out of the sky, crashing to the ground, and lying completely motionless when an overly enthusiastic male is trying to mate.

Once the male loses interest and flies away, the female gets back up and takes off. This trick is particularly useful if the female has already mated and is looking for somewhere to lay her eggs; repeated mating attempts can injure females, so rather than risk another unwanted encounter, sometimes the safest thing to do is to play possum.