There’s a story about one of the ravens at the Tower.
Apparently, one day they found a raven dead, flat on its back, legs sticking up in the air. There was a lot of consternation over this death, with people standing around and looking at it.
Apparently, another raven noticed all the attention the dead one was getting and, according to Skaife, began a practice of ‘playing dead’ for the tourists, to get attention of its own.
Tasha Tudor kept birds, including doves and parrots. She trained one parrot to ‘play dead’, which she would then serve up at dinner on a parsley-lined platter. (Scroll down a little):
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/412360909613654341/