Baikal seal  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to:
navigation, search Baikal seal Conservation status Scientific
classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class:
Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Phocidae Genus: Pusa Species:
P. sibirica Binomial name Pusa sibirica Gmelin, 1788 Baikal Seal
range Phoca sibirica  The Baikal seal, Lake Baikal seal, or
nerpa (Pusa sibirica, syn. Phoca sibirica), is a species of
earless seal endemic to Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia. Like the
Caspian seal, it is related to the Arctic ringed seal. The
Baikal seal is the smallest of the true seals and the only
exclusively freshwater pinniped species.[2] A subpopulation of
inland harbour seals living in the Hudson Bay region of Quebec,
Canada (lac de loups marins harbour seals), the Saimaa ringed
seal (a ringed seal subspecies) and the Ladoga seal (a ringed
seal subspecies) are found in freshwater, but these are part of
species that also have marine populations.[2]  It remains a
scientific mystery how the seals origi