Editing Amazonian manatee (section)

===Diet===
The manatees themselves feed on a variety of aquatic [[macrophytes]], including [[aroids]] (especially ''[[Pistia]]'', [[wikt:aka|aka]] "water lettuce"<ref name="ADW" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Amazon manatee &#124; WWF |url=http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/species/profiles/mammals/amazon_manatee/|website=wwf.panda.org |publisher=WWF - World Wide Fund For Nature| access-date=29 March 2018 |date=2017}}</ref>), grasses, [[bladderworts]], [[hornworts]], [[Nymphaeaceae|water lilies]], and particularly, [[Eichhornia crassipes|water hyacinths]].<ref name="bibdigital.epn.edu.ec">{{cite journal |last1=Timm |first1=Robert M. |last2=Albuja |first2=Luis |last3=Clauson |first3=Barbara L. |title=Ecology, Distribution, Harvest, and Conservation of the Amazonian Manatee Trichechus inunguis in Ecuador |journal=Biotropica |date=1986 |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=150–156 |doi=10.2307/2388757 |jstor=2388757 |bibcode=1986Biotr..18..150T |url=http://bibdigital.epn.edu.ec/handle/15000/4797 |hdl=1808/6920 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> They are also known to eat [[Arecaceae|palm]] fruits that fall into the water.<ref name="ADW" /> Maintaining a herbivorous diet, the manatee has a similar post-gastric digestive process to that of the horse.<ref name="MichelleGas" /> The manatee consumes approximately 8% of its body weight in food per day.<ref name="MichelleGas">{{cite journal |last1=Pazin-Guterres |first1=Michelle |title=Feeding Ecology of the Amazonian Manatee (Trichechus inunguis) in the Mamirauá and Amanã Sustainable Development Reserves, Brazil. |journal=Aquatic Mammals |date=2014 |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=139–149 |doi=10.1578/AM.40.2.2014.139 |bibcode=2014AqMam..40..139G |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262685494}}</ref>

During the July–August dry season when water levels begin to fall, some populations become restricted to the deep parts of large lakes, where they often remain until the end of the dry season in March.<ref name="Edge" /> They are thought to fast during this period, their large fat reserves and low metabolic rates – only 36% of the usual placental mammal metabolic rate – allowing them to survive for up to seven months with little or no food.<ref name="Edge" />