Editing Pygmy hippopotamus (section)

=== Diet ===
Like the common hippopotamus, the pygmy hippopotamus emerges from the water at dusk to feed. It relies on game trails to travel through dense forest vegetation. It marks trails by vigorously waving its tail while defecating to further spread its feces. The pygmy hippopotamus spends about six hours a day foraging for food.<ref name="The Hippos" />

[[File:Pigmy Hippo 037.jpg|thumb|Eating a vegetable]]
Pygmy hippos are [[herbivore|herbivorous]]. They do not eat aquatic vegetation to a significant extent and rarely eat grass because it is uncommon in the thick forests they inhabit. The bulk of a pygmy hippo's diet consists of [[herb]]s, [[fern]]s, [[dicotyledons|broad-leaved plants]], [[Herbaceous plant|herbaceous]] [[Shoot (botany)|shoot]]s, [[forb]]s, [[sedge]]s and [[fruit]]s that have fallen to the forest floor.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Hexaprotodon_liberiensis/ | title=Hexaprotodon liberiensis (Madagascan pygmy hippopotamus) | website=[[Animal Diversity Web]] }}</ref> The wide variety of plants pygmy hippos have been observed eating suggests that they will eat any plants available. This diet is of higher quality than that of the common hippopotamus.<ref name="The Hippos" />