Why do 'possums "play 'possum"?

Have you ever seen ‘possum teeth up close? They’re like boar tusks only curving down. I mean, dangerous.They can kill anything they want to!

We’ve been primitive camping all week. One night after dark I needed to use the loo, so I went behind the truck, squatted down and OMG!!!… there was a “dead” ‘possum not 3 inches from my bare feet! They’re really good at being dead, you know? They lay half curled, with their mouths curled back which shows their enormous teeth. They almost look like they’re rotting. I jumped up, ran to Rick yelling. He grabbed a shovel and we went back to get him, and he was GONE! I suddenly realized my German Shepherd had dragged the damn thing out from behind the truck and was dragging it around….and it just stayed “dead.” I don’t understand why. We took a long, good luck at its teeth…. My dog, as tough as she is, would have been no match for the critter had he gotten pissed.

Rick scooped him up with the shovel and tossed him in the lake. It’s really hard to play dead when you get tossed in the lake, poor thing, but he tried for a while. Just his head was sticking up and he wasn’t moving. Then he swam away.

Why don’t they attack?