Saimaa ringed seal

One of the most endangered species of the seals in the world.
Saimaa ringed seal lives only in Saimaa in Finland. It is one of the few seals in Finland which lives in fresh-water. Life expectancy is 20 years. Saimaa ringed seal got trapped to insulation in Saimaa, when the connection from the lakes to East, seal broke at the ice age.

The features of the saimaa ringed seal:
-Saimaa ringed seal is 130-145cm height and 50-90kg weight(subjects to season).
-Saimaa ringed seal colour is dark grey and there are light coloured ring figures all over it’s body. 

The threats of the saimaa ringed seal..
One disturbance is when saimaa ringed seal have cubs is that
they are easily hurt by buildings. People try to avoid building summer cottages etc. so that
they would not disturb the home of the saimaa ringed seal.
Second disturbance is change of climate. Snow is very important for the survival
of cubs of saimaa ringed seal because  Saimaa ringed seal gives birth to it’s cub
in home which is built of snow. Snow protects saimaa ringed seal cub
from cold and predators. Saimaa ringed seal can get caught and drown in a fish trap.

A man lifting a dead seal from fish trap.

The Saimaa lake where they live gets polluted and the environmental poisons are one reason why saimaa ringed seals are an endangered species.
There is only 260 Saimaa ringed seals  in the world.

Do you know that..

-The saimaa ringed seal can be under the water even 20 minutes at a time and
they can also sleep in water.
-The saimaa ringed seal spend 60-80% of it’s life under the water. The saimaa ringed seal eat about 1000 kg fish in a year.
-The saimaa ringed seal cub is called kuutti in Finnish.   

Kuutti