#saimaa ringed seal

[sealsdaily]

Today's Seal Is: Norppa Identified.

[holts-knees]

Special interest infodump time [facilitated by an art challenge I'm taking part in over on my instagram] this episode: The Saimaa Ringed Seal! The Saimaa Ringed seal is a subspecies of ringed seal endemic to Lake Saimaa in Finland. They have evolved separately from other species of glacial ringed seals for nearly 10,000 years after being separated in the forming of Lake Saimaa during post glacial rebound at the end of the last ice age. That prolonged and continued period of isolation has caused them to have broken off into their own, incredibly rare geographically specific and small numbered morphology [other animals to exhibit this include the Devil's Hole Pupfish of death valley]. Due to this nature, while they face endangerment due to the same reasons as many other seals [bycatch mortality, hunting, pollution etc] they also face it purely from a rarity angle, isolated species populations in the sub-1,000s are always going to be incredibly delicate by virture of not having the "padding" of large count numbers on their side.

That said! Conservationists in Finland work closely with the government to do their best to make sure these adorable freshwater seals have the best shot they can at sticking around, and Metsähallitus was very excited to report that this year was a record-high year for Saimaa Ringed Seal pups! Noting that their annual census for 2023 counted 100 pups [the highest count they have ever had! And a HUGE number considering the overall population of the species is estimated around 410 total seals] The organization thinks it's possible the continued increase may be caused by recent net fishing bans in certain parts of the lake allowing more seals to survive to reproductive age, and hope the bans can continue to expand to further parts of the lake as well to increase this encouraging and exciting momentum. Onnea teille pikku hyljit!! 🦭🩵🇫🇮

[cypherdecypher]

Animal of the Day!

Saimaa Ringed Seal (Pusa hispida saimensis)

(Photo from WWF)

Conservation Status- Endangered

Habitat- Finland

Size (Weight/Length)- 90 kg; 145 cm

Diet- Small fish

Cool Facts- The Saimaa ringed seal is one of the most endangered seals in the world with around 400 mature individuals. Only found in Lake Saimaa in Finland, they have been completely separate from any other species of seal for 9,500 years. While they exclusively eat fish, these seals eat almost every species that inhabit the lake. Despite this, the Saimaa ringed seal does not have an impact on the fishing industry of the area. Despite being protected from hunting for almost 70 years, the Saimaa ringed seal is on the brink of extinction. Due to the small size of the lake mixed with multiple bad breeding seasons in a row, certain fishing methods have been banned from Lake Saimaa along with artificial dens being installed on the beaches.

Rating- 14/10 (Check out Norppalive from WWF for some awesome videos and a live feed of these seals.)

[jonnaan994]

Saimaannorppa/Saimaa ringed seal! It's the rarest seal in the world, only existing in lake Saimaa 🇫🇮 The felted seal here is also made by me 👍

[usvakani]

Inktober Day 19: Plump

[mehilaiselokuva]

Finnish word of the day

Saimaannorppa

Saimaa (gen) + norppa

Saimaa: a place name of unknown origin. Largest lake in FInland

Norppa: Ringed seal. Probably a borrowing from Sami.

= Saimaa ringed seal Pusa hispida saimensis

The Saimaa ringed seal is an endangered seal living in the Saimaa fresh water lake. (It's very rare for a seal to live in fresh water!) There are about 440 of these little rolls left! If they die, the species will be completely lost. I'm very passionate about these seals!

Learn more about them (and maybe donate to them):

[This is Pullervo]

[This is Siiri]

[And one of my favorite pics] (from Suomen luonnonsuojeluliitto)

[jammiedoggo]

Finnish saimaa ringed seal

[fnafoceansoffun]

With Halloween being a popular time at Oceans of Fun, what better to bring in than a little goth rocking fortune teller? Salvatore, or Sal, may be aloof and unexpressive, but this skeletal painted saimaa ringed seal will captivate you with his fortune telling and mystic ways. Though he’s typically only available in October, he has been known to join the pinniped party for special occasions as guests want. Though he prefers to stay to himself, he will happily show his musical chops and maybe even share a nice shell he has collected to curious guests.

[ahlanzhan]

Don't wanna rain on how cool Lake Balkan is because it sure sounds cool, but I need to defend another exclusively freshwater habiting piniped here - a saimaa ringed seal which only exclusively lives in Saimaa waterways in Finland. There are only about 430 of them in this one lake system and thus also the world. And this is an improvement, they were dying out at one point.

Also the adults look like lichen covered rocks which I find just the coolest. Just going plop by the lakeside.

Do y’all ever think about how absolutely bananas Lake Baikal is? It’s the world’s largest lake by volume. It’s the world’s deepest lake. It’s the world’s oldest lake. It contains nearly a quarter of the planet’s surface freshwater. It’s a rift lake, caused by the earth’s crust literally coming apart at the seams. It would be deeper than the Mariana Trench except the bottom is covered in a sediment layer that is miles deep. There are trains that have sunk to the bottom because Russia tried to build a railroad over the ice. The entire lake surface freezes for half the year. The lake is a focal point of multiple indigenous cultures. The lake has its own species of seal, which is the only exclusively freshwater pinniped in the world. There are unique ice formations formed by convection from the depths of the lake. There are 330 inflowing rivers.

I dunno, Lake Baikal sure is a thing.

[sealsdaily]

Heya!

How about the saimaa ringed seal?

Most Photogenic Thang

[brasskingfisher]

‘Like a giant bird box’: the volunteers building huge snowdrifts for Finland’s pregnant seals

‘Like a giant bird box’: the volunteers building huge snowdrifts for Finland’s pregnant seals

Helping an endangered seal species! Where do I sign up?

[you-hate-time-travel]

The saimaa ringed seal is one of THREE lake seal species in the WORLD+???? what the fuck... i thought there'd be a few more but nay.

[lurks-no-more]

Hylje hyväksyy!

(The number of critically endangered Saimaa ringed seals has risen, and there are now over 500 of them!)

Hyvä norpat!

[anirobot]

This year, the number of the Saimaa ringed seals has increased by tens of individuals to around 480. Last year, the size of the stock was 436 the Saimaa Ringed Seals.

Metsähallitus' annual stock assessment describes the situation in January, when the stock is at its lowest. The survivors of the litters born in the spring will only be included in next year's assessment.

Thanks to conservation measures, the number of the Saimaa ringed seals has doubled in just over 20 years.

[neriyon]

I've kinda wanted to talk a little about other ocs so this should be nice for that. Opinions will be only about Hawu'li, bc listing all ffxiv ocs would make this even longer than it already is.

Doctor Riri (Arknights Doctor oc) - Probably yeah? Riri is way more overworked and tired than Hawu'li but I feel like he'd like how this weird feline would do his best to cheer him up. Maybe they can take a nap together and exchange tips on how to keep their tails nice and fluffy. Or maybe Riri can give Hawu'li some tactical tips for his next primal fight.

Seele (Arknights oc, Riri's close friend/bodyguard) - Absolutely! Seele might be completely mute but he wouldn't mind listening to Hawu'li talk. They both like similar stuff and would eat snacks together. Hawu'li might get tiiiiny bit intimidated seeing tiny "hyur" (Seele's like, barely 150cm) beat things up with just his fists but he's seen enough lala monks to not question it too much.

Enli (yup, another Arknight's oc, also friend/bodyguard) - Kinda, but Enli needs to take some breaks from this "feline who talks non-stop". Hawu'li would also pester the poor man for treats continously if he ever learned about the lateran desserts, and possibly be really, really curious because it's not like you meet angels every day on Eorzea.

Kuroto Hirose (originally Bleach oc, later adapted to general oc) - Hawu'li is actually kinda really vaguely based on Kuro so I'd say they'd do well together. Both have strong morals and want to help/protect others, and both have jobs that consist of travelling and dealing with various threads (WoL / shinigami respectively). Kuro is a lot calmer and they both come from very different backgrounds (Kuro having an aristocrat upbringing), but I think they'd befriend eachother quickly and like, watch movies together while talking about their interests. Or about keeping their companions out of trouble (Kuro's bf is a bit of a troublemaker) They are also both tied to "light" element.

Kohaku Sakurai (another Bleach oc, yay) - I honestly would never wish for anyone who values their life and sanity to meet Kohaku. That man can and will make you into research project if you show literally anything that gets him interested. He'd lock Hawu'li up somewhere and do endless testing on Echo, Hydaelyn's blessing and various other things. Hawu'li would be so afraid of him and just bolt it out of there the second Kohaku get's his caffeine crash.

Bonus: Kuro's zanpakuto spirit Tsukiakari - he'd hit on Hawu'li so hard, get frustraited with this cat's denseness and just flat out kiss him. They are also both purple