Editing Amazonian manatee (section)

==Population and distribution==
As of 1977 the population count of the Amazonian manatee was estimated to be around 10,000.<ref name="Edge" /> As of now the total population count is undetermined, however the population trend seems to be decreasing.<ref name="Edge" /> They are mainly distributed throughout the Amazon River Basin in northern South America, ranging from the Marajó Islands in Brazil through Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador.<ref name="Edge" /> They are occasionally found overlapping with the [[West Indian manatee]] along the coasts of Brazil.<ref name="Edge" >{{cite web |title=Amazonian manatee (''Trichechus inunguis'') |url=http://www.edgeofexistence.org/mammals/species_info.php?id=84id=84 |website=edgeofexistence.org |publisher=Zoological Society of London |access-date=24 October 2014 |archive-date=10 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810194355/http://www.edgeofexistence.org/mammals/species_info.php?id=84id=84#distribution |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Amazonian manatees occur through most of the Amazon River drainage, from the headwaters, in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to the mouth of the Amazon (close to the Marajó Island) in Brazil over an estimated seven million square kilometers.<ref name="iucn status 11 November 2021" /> However, their distribution is patchy, concentrating in areas of nutrient-rich flooded forest, which covers around 300,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> <ref name="iucn status 11 November 2021" /> They also inhabit environments in lowland tropical areas below 300 m asl, where there is large production of aquatic and semi-aquatic plants; they are also found in calm, shallow waters, away from human settlements<ref name="iucn status 11 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author1=Marmontel, M. |author2=de Souza, D. |author3=Kendall, S. |date=2016 |title=''Trichechus inunguis'' |volume=2016 |page=e.T22102A43793736 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T22102A43793736.en |access-date=11 November 2021}}</ref>

The Amazonian manatee is completely aquatic and never leaves the water.<ref name="Edge" /> It is the only manatee to occur exclusively in freshwater environments.<ref name="Ark" /> The Amazonian manatee favors backwater lakes, oxbows, and lagoons with deep connections to large rivers and abundant aquatic vegetation<ref name="Ark">{{Cite web |url=http://www.arkive.org/amazonian-manatee/trichechus-inunguis/ |title=Arkive closure |access-date=2014-10-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120004424/http://www.arkive.org/amazonian-manatee/trichechus-inunguis/ |archive-date=2015-01-20 |url-status=dead}}</ref> They are mainly solitary but sometimes they will gather in small groups consisting of up to eight individuals.<ref name="Files" /> They engage in long seasonal movements, moving from flooded areas during the wet season to deep water-bodies during the dry season<ref name="iucn status 11 November 2021" />

Natural predators include jaguars, sharks, and crocodiles.<ref name="ADW" />