Chicken hypnotism
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
Source: Have around a dozen varieties of chicken.
Another one pecked at something under a ledge and managed to break its neck by trying to stand up.
If they get out of my fenced area they will ram into the same section for the whole day trying to join the flock even though there is a clear opening 3 feet away.
Never had turkeys but apparently if you leave any kind of hanging object they will find a way to hang themselves.
Just a handful of examples.
They are stupendously stupid.
We had one poor hen who decided she preferred soft foods, and would never scrape her beak on rocks or other things. She wouldn't peck, rather she'd gently rip off chunks of bread and such. We had to eventually trim the end of her beak with a trimmer, because it was getting large enough to interfere with her ability to drink
Guinea fowl still take the prize, though, and they're skittish and loud to boot.
That appears to just be urban folklore:
“ In an interesting eye witness case off the coast of California, a female orca was seen holding the shark upside down to induce tonic immobility. It kept the shark still for fifteen minutes, causing it to suffocate to death.”
There's also lobster hypnosis http://www.timvidraeats.com/2010/01/how-to-humanely-kill-and...
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_death#Tonic_immobilit...
Another example is birds avoiding vertical stripes, because that's how cats and other predators typically look (two stripes on the forehead).
How would you personally act if you found yourself in a dimly lit room with something like a big snake on the wall? You'd stand still for a minute, as movement would attract the snake, and only after a "timeout" you'd assume the snake is fake.
It's probably stressful for them, so it's frowned upon in rabbit circles. But it's a handy trick if your rabbit is a pain in the ass and you have to trim his claws.
Interestingly, some rabbits love to lie on their backs internationally. It doesn't seem to cause tonic immobility or stress them out when they do it themselves. They only do it when they feel exceptionally comfortable and safe.
In nature the mother will put her chin on top of the kit's head as a "sit down and shut up, there's a predator about" signal.
This is how Oolong became famous: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oolong_(rabbit)
(You can also hypnotise budgerigars).