Lake Baikal Freshwater Seals
The freshwater seals of lake baikal russia artists for conservation international group of wildlife artists nature artists dedicated to wildlife and habitat conservation nature conservancy environment the nature and wildlife artist.
Lake baikal freshwater seals. Baikal seals are thermophobic and pagophilic that is they avoid heat and like ice and snow and their pups have white silky natal fur and are born on the ice that covers the lake between. In addition harbor seals may visit estuaries lakes and rivers and sometimes stay as long as a year. Other species known to enter freshwater include california sea lions and south american sea lions. Subsistence and commercial hunting and.
The only freshwater seals in the world. One of those is the seals favourite food the golomyanka a pink partly transparent fish which gives birth to live young. The population of baikal seals was estimated at 60 000 70 000 in 1978. One of those is the baikal seal just one of 3 freshwater seals in the world that can be found all around the lake.
Iucn red list assessments are currently incomplete for 49 or 24 of freshwater megafauna species. Sergey gabdurakhmanov flickr creative commons. Filmed in june 2019 on big ushkan island in lake baikal. The baikal seal lake baikal seal or nerpa pusa sibirica is a species of earless seal endemic to lake baikal in siberia russia.
Baikal seals forage extensively through the winter. Geologists estimate that lake baikal formed somewhere 20 25 million years ago during the mesozoic. Surrounded by mile high snowcapped mountains lake baikal still offers vistas of unmatched beauty. A new study seeks to identify the factors that make freshwater megafauna more vulnerable to extinction.
Like the caspian seal it is related to the arctic ringed seal. Two baikal seals basking on the banks of lake baikal. Their diet consists primarily of several species of sculpins and golomyanka genus comephorus but includes many varieties of freshwater fishes including commercially important species. One of the most interesting facts about lake baikal and its biodiversity is that over 80 of the species living in and around the lake are endemic which means they only live in this area in the world.