Submitted by wisely_lined56 t3_zpzh6z in todayilearned
Life, uh, finds a way
Floods?
There's a loooooooot of land to travel.
Check it out on google maps. Note that the way the watersheds work the most viable connection to the ocean is in the north.
They all just had Red Bulls
The river connections get pretty close to the lake, and likely connected to the southern part of the lake.
Pinnipeds have been found in inland California when they swim upstream in the rivers and canals.
Yah. Like I say, that's a long ways to go, especially since those rivers stay frozen for much of the way. As far as I know, there aren't seals that do well in rivers, and it's rather unlikely that the lake was populated by individuals making the entire journey themselves.
The other major theory is they came from the West, plausible because the Caspian was far far larger, as was the... Um... The sea that Ukraine borders. Whatever that one's called.
A key to answering this question is genetic analyses, which can help narrow down how long that population has been there. Then you have a broader sense of the climatic variability that could play into the migration.
I'm speaking from memory here, so may have the details wrong, but if I am remembering correctly they haven't been there that long. It would be easier to explain if they had been around before the last ice age, because that would make the northern river route more plausible, but the timing doesn't add up. If they were a bit older than even that the western route would be more plausible, as those waterways were yet greater. But the timing doesn't add up, and they seem to have arrived after those easy routes were dried up or frozen.
Why would a river be unfriendly for seals? Salt water seals do just fine in freshwater too don't they?
It's pretty much a wholely different environment. Totally plausible for seals to travel short distances through rivers, but at that length it's almost certainly a multi-generational migration. Meaning whole generations were born in and died in rivers. That's a hell of a rapid adaption from being arctic sea-dwellers.
Interesting. So there were river based sub species at some point? I don't know much about seals but I was always fascinated by the sub species that lives in lake Saimaa here in Finland.
This is all speculation. Just perhaps the most plausible explanation. There's literally no evidence of river going seals up there. Though that doesn't at all mean it didn't happen. Finding a river going ancestor somewhere would change things, but the fossil record can be really cruel sometimes.
If they came from the West this problem doesn't exist, because that would be a voyage of shorter rivers between larger bodies of water.
There's a good YouTube video on this. Can't recall if it's PBS or Moth Light Media or someone else, but details the various theories.
“Long way” is basically nothing for animals
Have you looked at a map?
Do you have any idea how long the way is in this instance?
Animals regularly travel tens of thousands of miles
OK, let's stop being silly about this.
Seals have been documented 15 km inland.
Here's a source:
https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/marine-mammals/seals/nz-fur-seal/what-to-do/
Lake Baikal is more than 15 km from any ocean.
Now, it's your turn for evidence-based argument.
If you post another generalization, we're done.
Well for a pinniped it's a long fuckin way! They don't have feets!
Yeah. Just look at a all the whales in lake Winnebago….
If you turn off all noise in your room and listen very closely, you can just make out the sound of James Cameron somewhere cumming in his pants.
Fun facts: Lake Baikal is the largest lake in the world by volume. It is so deep it contains twice the water of Lake Superior. However, Lake Superior is the largest lake in the world by surface area. Superior has twice the surface area of Baikal.
forget lake superior ..
> [Baikal contains] 22–23% of the world's fresh surface water, more than all of the North American Great Lakes combined
It's a bit larger than Belgium, so only the 7th largest by surface area
> It is also the world's deepest lake, with a maximum depth of 1,642 metres (5,387 feet; 898 fathoms), and the world's oldest lake,[9] at 25–30 million years.
It's the part of ancient rift valley that got filled up with miles of sediment and water
Waves on Lake Superior >>> tiny little bumps on the big russian water pit.
For sure.
Lake Superior seems like such a Chad complex
Fun fact: a lot of the early scientific research about Lake Baikal was done by Polish scientists sent to nearby camps.
Is this the one with a ton of creepy conspiracy theories about it?
It’s kinda incredible that the oldest lake in the world is only 25 million years old.
I heard there's aliens in that lake.
It may be going radio active soon
That's what the war's for ?
No. Lake Baikal is on the other side of Russia, and doesn’t have anything to do with the current conflict.
Wut?
onioning t1_j0vnf8u wrote
There are seals there and the fun part is figuring out how they got there. IIRC going upriver from the arctic is the most popular theory, but that's a long long way to go in unfriendly environments. Cute little puggy seals too.