Wed, August 27, 2008
They're cute, they're cuddly looking and now they are going high tech.
These are known locally as "nerpa" seals - and live on Lake Baikal in Russia.
They are notoriously shy creatures but are now unwittingly to be thrown into the glare of massive publicity.
Because scientists are going to give them their own website.
They have been busy constructing equipment to provide the seals with a live web cam so that observers all over the world can watch them without disturbing them.
SOUNDBITE: Vladimir Vygodsky, scientist from Baikal Museum in Irkutsk, saying: (Russian)
"It is our second expedition to the island Dolgyi, one of the Ushkaniy islands. The first time we came here to do the construction work, like make foundation for metal constructions. Today we are already building metal constructions to put antennae, batteries and video cameras on them."
The expedition has travelled to the Ushakaniy islands, which are the part of protected Baikal national park, and the place of habitat of Baikal seals.
The present Baikal seal population has been estimated to be over 60,000, but faces many threats.
Hunting, global warming and the decrease of winter ice cover have seen their numbers steadily drop.
Up until now they have been thought of as mysterious and rarely seen.
But the project aims not only to study the Baikal seals, but also to bring them closer to the attention and hearts of the people of the Baikal region and as well as the rest of the world.
