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Captive pygmy hippos can be occasionally aggressive, and their sharp teeth enable them to deliver severe bites, comparable to the wounds that can be inflicted by a tapir. Hans Schomburg, one of the first Europeans to capture pygmy hippos in Liberia, described how one of his captive hippos, a relatively young female, attacked him when he entered its corral. Had he not been able to divert the animal's attention with a sack of green food (which the hippo promptly teared to pieces), he would have been seriously injured. Another captive animal, a big male, also attacked him on a few occasions when he entered the corral, but in general behaved less aggressively than the aforesaid female. Wild pygmy hippos practically never attack humans unless they are wounded by hunters and unable to flee. Their common reaction to danger is to flee, and, unlike big hippos, they do not defend their territory against human intruders.

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