A young woman almost lost her little finger after she went to stroke a cute dolphin but it clamped down on her hand with its sharp teeth.

Injured Livia Lacerda shared a snap of her heavily-bandaged hand following the mishap at a beach in Amazonas state, Brazil, last weekend.

She was on the riverbank with family and friends when she spotted the endangered Amazon river dolphin and went over to pet it.

Livia told local media: “The beach had me enthralled, I spotted the dolphin, just like other people who were there, and I went closer to touch the animal, and it bit me.”

Livia was unaware at the time that petting dolphins was prohibited.

She said: “I have never joined a dolphin sightseeing tour, I didn’t know that I couldn’t touch the animal, but now the lesson has been learned.”

Following the nasty bite, the young woman had to go to the doctor’s.

She explained: “The dolphin tore the skin from the lower phalanx of my finger almost to the tip deeply.

“It still looks ugly, but there are no signs of infection. I have to go to the hospital every day to get the compression bandage changed.”

Biologist Rodrigo Dias told local media that touching wild animals is extremely dangerous, even if they approach humans.

He explained: “We should never, under any circumstances, touch wild animals, due to the high potential for transmitting diseases that can be triggered by bacteria.

“Another factor to consider is the animal’s mood, as often they are stressed by many people harassing them or are hungry and end up attacking.”

According to Livia, the dolphins in the area have become used to people giving them fish to eat.

Because of this, when someone goes to pet them, they think it is food and snap their powerful jaws.

Livia wrote on social media on 10th July: “Apparently, people usually feed the dolphins at the beach, and as we didn’t give it anything, it must have thought that my finger was some kind of snack.”