Baikal, along with its surroundings, representsis a very beautiful place, about amazing landscapes and wonders of which you can talk for a very long time. This is a land with very picturesque nature: fabulous landscapes, bizarre capes, magnificent cliffs, as well as other beauties found here at every step.
The fauna of Lake Baikal is extremelydiverse, since nature is preserved almost in its original form, and the indigenous population lives in the traditional way. Thanks to this, this place attracts ecotourists from all over the planet every year.
Wildlife of Lake Baikal
Here lives a huge number of animals,some of which can only be found in this place. For example, the seal - a cute animal, which has long been a symbol of this lake. Or golomyanka fish - completely transparent! In Lake Baikal, the animal world is represented by a huge number of different fishes, seal, etc. On the coast live squirrels, sables, deer, wild boars, foxes, which tourists meet very often. Wolves, bears and lynxes are kept away from the tourist trails. The birds are singing here all day long. And if we talk about fish, sturgeon, grayling, whitefish and omul are typical inhabitants of local waters.
Baikal seal
Here the only representative of mammals is the Baikal seal (or seal). And if we consider the problems of Baikal, then it can be noted that this animal is on the verge of extinction.
There are several hypotheses about how the seal appeared here. There is a version that it penetrated here from the Arctic Ocean during the ice age along the rivers, loaded with ice.
This amazing beast almost all lifeis in the water, ascending every 20 minutes for a portion of fresh air. In winter, he breathes through special vents - small airways, which he creates by raking ice from below with claws of his front paws. The seal overwinters in the lairs, arranging them in the hummocky parts of the lake under the snow. There are more than 10 different ancillary products around the lair. They can defend from the main by tens of meters. It has been proven that the ability to make breathing is a congenital instinct.
The main food of the seal is golomyanko-goby fish. In the day she eats 3-5 kg of fresh fish. An adult seal eats up to a ton of fish a year.
At about 4 years old, the female becomes mature.Males reach sexual maturity 1-2 years later. Seals have a pregnancy that lasts 11 months. Until the age of forty she is able to produce offspring.
In February and April puppies are born.They appear in the snow lair, on the ice, they feed on mother's milk. Basically, the seal gives birth to the 1st, sometimes two babies, whose weight is up to 4 kilograms. Cubs have white fur, which allows them to remain almost invisible in the snow.
The average weight of the seal is 50 kg, the maximum - 150 kg. The speed of a floating animal is up to 20 kilometers per hour.
Big golomyanka
In Baikal there live 2 types of golomyanka - small andgreat. These 2 species are found at considerable depths. They keep the day at a depth of 500 m, rising to 50 m at night. Since the water of Baikal is very clean, you can see these beautiful pink fish shimmering with all shades of a rainbow about 20 centimeters in size. Golomyanka body has a translucent body due to the huge fat content (about 45%).
She is a live-giving fish. In this case, in a large individual, the larvae are born in the autumn, while in the small one already in June. In a large golomyanka the number of larvae is about 4000, in a small one - 2500.
Fish live up to 5 years. The food is consumed by young fish and crustaceans.
Baikal omul
Omul - the main commercial fish. The pure water of Baikal allows four races of the omul to live in it: Chivyrkuy, Selenginsk, North Baikal, and the Ambassadors.
In the fall, during the spawning period, all races are sentin its own river. The spawning course in the river begins when the water temperature equalizes in August-September. In October spawning occurs at a water temperature of no more than 5 ° C. The development of roe lasts 8 months, and the slope of young larvae ends by the end of May. The juvenile omul, hitting the near estuarine sites, in the lower reaches of the rivers, in the sora, bays lingers here for 1.5 months, since in May-June these sites are characterized by the best water heating.
Young in a warm shallow area strenuouslyfeeds on small larvae of chironomids, plankton, etc. The larvae become fry, and as soon as the waters of the coastal areas of the lake reach 11 ° C or more, the young fish scatter gradually across Lake Baikal, the fauna of which is so rich and diverse.
An omul becomes an adult in the 5th year of its life.
The sizes of fish of different races differ.The largest is the Selenga race. In summer catches, the average body weight reaches 404 grams with a body length of 35 centimeters. The smallest size differs North Baikal race, in which the average weight reaches 255 grams in summer catches.
The maximum weight of the fish is 5 kilograms.
Baikal sturgeon
The fauna of Baikal is very rich.Briefly speaking about him, it is necessary to tell about the Baikal sturgeon. It constantly lives here and is associated with rivers mainly during breeding, which occurs in V. Angara, Barguzin and Selenga. Although he can live in rivers permanently, especially in the first 3 years. Juveniles further rolls into the lake. Within its borders, sturgeon is spread over a vast area. He mastered the shallow zone up to 200 m. During the spawning period, the fish migrate along rivers almost 100 km from the mouth.
Baikal sturgeon grows relatively long. Males of puberty reach 15 years, while females are only 20 years old.
Once upon a time they caught fish, body weightwhich reached 200 kilograms; at present, there is rarely a representative weighing up to 90 kg. In females, the average body weight is 22.5 kilograms with a length of 160 centimeters, in males about 13.5 kilograms with a length of about 130 centimeters. The average fecundity of fish - 420000 eggs.
The composition of fish food is varied, whichdue to the wealth of Lake Baikal. The fauna that attracts sturgeon is worms, mollusks, spring-eared larvae, chironomids, scuds, shirokolobki, occasionally juvenile carp fish and perch.
Black Baikal Grayling
An endemic variety of Siberian grayling.Fish is distributed throughout Lake Baikal (Russia), especially near the mouth of the rivers, where it breeds. Lives at shallow depths (up to 15 m) near the coast, where there are rocky soils.
During warm periods, migrates to the largesttributaries of the Baikal. At this time, the males get a colorful, bright outfit. In black grayling, spawning occurs in May. After that, the fish rolls into the lake, and the fry and grayling larvae linger there for a long time. By the fall, they also slide into Baikal and the beds of large rivers.
In black grayling sexual maturity comes to four years.
Food: caddis larvae, chironomids, gammarids, mayflies and insects.
The average size is 250 mm with a body weight of 300 grams. The maximum length of black grayling is 530 mm with a weight of 1.2 kg.
White Baikal grayling
The endemic species of the Siberian grayling differs from the black by a lighter coloring and some biological features.
It lives all over the lake, and at the same time, it is exposed to spaces in the mouths of large tributaries, mainly the northeastern and eastern parts of the lake.
White looks more black. Its maximum weight is about 2 kg and more with a body length of about 600 mm. The average size of the fish is 300 mm with a weight of 500 g.
In fish, maturity occurs by seven years. The average fecundity of the white species is 5 times more than black.
Spawning happens in May when the water temperatureis 14˚С. At this time, the caviar is deposited on sandy coastal shallows at a depth of about 50 cm. The fry and fish roll up in the same way as in black grayling.
The food is the rich fauna of Baikal: larvae of spring vegetation, caddisflies, chironomids, mayflies, dragonflies.
Elk moose
The elk is the largest animal of the Baikal region.Its average weight is 400 kilograms, individual males weigh and 0.5 tons. Body length reaches 3 meters with height at withers about 2.3 m. At the same time, males differ from females in large sizes and also in that they have shovel-like, annually changing horns. The most powerful horns appear in males for 15 years. In January, the horns fall, the growth of new starts in March.
Gon happens at the end of September. In May, the fauna of Baikal is enriched - calves are born to females.
Elks are kept in groups of 4-6 individuals or singly.
In winter, they feed on the bark and shoots of trees, in summer - a variety of herbs.
Musk deer
Musk deer is the smallest deer that lives onthe shore of Lake Baikal. The fauna of these places is very diverse. Musk deer is of particular interest to many. The body length is 1 meter with a mass of about 17 kilograms. The hind legs are much longer than the front. There are no horns, although the males have curved, long canines.
Lives in the taiga, eats ground and tree lichens.
Gon occurs in November, pregnancy lasts about 190 days. One, sometimes two cubs are born.
Evaluating the problems of Baikal, it should also be notedthe rapid disappearance of this species. This is mainly due to the fact that it is actively hunting. This is due to the musky gland located in the males on the stomach. Musk is a gelatinous, thick substance with a very strong odor, which is used in perfumery and medicine.
