🌊Lake Baikal is an inland sea, featuring a wide range of environments from surf zones to underwater canyons.
🦭The Baikal seal, or nerpa, is the only entirely freshwater seal species in the world.
🛶The seals' ancestors may have reached Lake Baikal either through tectonic forces isolating the caspian sea or by using pro-glacial lakes formed during glacial periods.
🏞️Lake Baikal's unique environment supports a variety of endemic species, including its own species of sponge, deep-water invertebrates, and endemic fish.
🌍The presence of seals in Lake Baikal showcases the adaptability and resilience of marine mammals in exploring and colonizing new environments.