However, the psychological warfare inflicted on opponents by war elephants could be countered. Famously, flaming pigs were used to terrify war elephants, which could turn around and trample their own soldiers in an attempt to escape. If an elephant panicked, it could cause almost as much damage to its own troops as the enemy! Thus, using war elephants was a high-risk strategy. Although the Romans successfully overcame war elephants–at tremendous cost –when fighting the Egyptians and Carthaginians, they came to adopt some for themselves, although mainly for entertainment and spectacle.