Amazon River Dolphin - Ecology

Ecology

The Amazon river dolphin is found throughout the Amazon and Orinoco. It is particularly abundant in lowland rivers with extensive floodplains. During the annual rainy season, these rivers flood large areas of forests and marshes along their banks. The Amazon river dolphin specializes in hunting in these habitats, taking advantage of its unusually flexible neck and spinal cord to maneuver among the underwater tree trunks, and using its long snout to extract prey fish from hiding places in hollow logs and thickets of submerged vegetation.

When the water levels drop, the dolphins move either into the main river channels or into large lakes in the forest, and take advantage of the concentrated prey in these reduced water bodies. They feed on crustaceans, crabs, small turtles, catfish, piranha, shrimp, and other fish.

The male reaches sexual maturity at about 7 feet (2 m) and the female at about 5.5 feet (1.7 m). Most calves are born between July and September after a gestation period of 9 to 12 months; they are about 32 inches long at birth (80 cm) and weigh about 15 pounds.

The young follow their parents closely for a few months, and often two adults are seen swimming with two or more small juveniles.