In Finland we have a famous sad song called "Vanhojapoikia viiksekkäitä", which translates to "Moustached Bachelors". The song's lyrics tell the sad life stories of Nestori Miikkulainen, an old bachelor living on a rocky island in Lake Saimaa, and a lonely seal who lives in the waters near Nestori's cabin and comes to visit him when the old man plays his harmonica. The song's central themes are the depopulation of rural Finland, and nature preservation: the two protagonists are both said to be members of an endangered species.
@draw2death4214 жыл бұрын
Lyrics: Finnish Saimaan saaressa pikkuinen torppa, Istuu portailla Nestori Miikkulainen. Huuliharppuaan soittaa, ja norppa Nousee pinnalle pärskähtäen. Aallon alla se suunnisti soittajan luo, Sille tuttua tutumpi on sävel tuo. Laulu kertoo näin mitä on yksin kun jää, Hyvin hylje sen ymmärtää. Tanssittu koskaan ei Nestorin häitä, Maailma houkutti pois morsion. Vanhojapoikia viiksekkäitä Mies sekä hylje kumpikin on. Saimaan saaressa pikkuinen torppa, Sinne elämän toveri tahtonut ei. Yksin Nestori jäi kuten norppa, Myös sen kumppanin kohtalo vei. Suuri Saimaa mut sata on hylkeitä vaan, Kohta jäljellä ei ehkä ainuttakaan. Huuliharppua soittelee Miikkulainen, Yksi ymmärtää kaipuun sen. Tanssittu koskaan ei Nestorin häitä, Maailma houkutti pois morsion. Vanhoja poikia viiksekkäitä Mies sekä hylje kumpikin on. Saimaan saaressa pikkuinen torppa, Istuu portailla Nestori Miikkulainen. Lepokivellään iäkäs norppa Katsoo ystävää ymmärtäen. Suuri Saimaa mut naista sen rannoilta vaan Ei näin tuuliseen saareen saa asettumaan. Kuten norpan, on määrä myös Miikkulaisen Olla sukunsa viimeinen. Tanssittu koskaan ei Nestorin häitä, Maailma houkutti pois morsion. Vanhojapoikia viiksekkäitä Mies sekä hylje kumpikin on. Lyrics: English On a Saimaa's island is a little hut, On the stairs sits Nestori Miikkulainen. He plays his harmonica and a seal Rises to the surface with a splash. Under a wave it found its way to the player, For it this melody is known by heart. The songs tells what it's like to be left alone, The seal understands it well Nestori's weddings were never celebrated, The world attracted away the bride. Old moustachy fellows Man and the seal both are. On a Saimaa's island is a little hut, There a life companion didn't want to stay. Nestori was left alone like the seal Also its companions destiny took Great saimaa but just a hundred of seals there are Soon there might not be even one at all The harmonica is played by Miikkulainen One understands that longing in it. Nestori's weddings were never celebrated, The world attracted away the bride. Old moustachy fellows Man and the seal both are. On a Saimaa's island is a little hut, On the stairs sits Nestori Miikkulainen. And on a stone sits the elderly seal Looking at his friend with a understanding. Great Saimaa but none of it's women Are willing to stay on this windy island. Like seal's, is the destiny of Miikulainen to be the last of his kin. Nestori's weddings were never celebrated, The world attracted away the bride. Old moustachy fellows Man and the seal both are.
@ramy70127 күн бұрын
Ty for sharing. I love this
@sporasparel50325 жыл бұрын
This seal is not often mentioned outside of Finland so thank you for covering it!
@LordOfNihil3 жыл бұрын
its a new one for me. i knew about ringed seals, but not finish lake dwelling ringed seals.
@hailgiratinathetruegod75645 жыл бұрын
Everything out of Finland is great
@HONNEKI4 жыл бұрын
Thank you :) but I wouldn't say Finland is any candyland
@asmodai20253 жыл бұрын
Finnish metal is great as well.
@cassu6 Жыл бұрын
@@HONNEKI Yep only candyland in Finland is Karkkila ;)
@panchoxxlocoxx96385 жыл бұрын
Seals are probably the cutest animal that ever existed
@panchoxxlocoxx96385 жыл бұрын
@The Creature Universe So many opinions and only one truth...
@gregburrell62445 жыл бұрын
They get nasty when they get older
@elwaspa61375 жыл бұрын
This is wisdom in it’s purest form
@elwaspa61375 жыл бұрын
The Creature Universe 🤣 is the most annoying thing I’ve ever seen
@graygreysangui5 жыл бұрын
@The Creature Universe A water weasel? I will take the sea dog.
@flioink5 жыл бұрын
Finnish water doggos are cute.
@invisiblejaguar15 жыл бұрын
Seals are amazing, I love how their ancestors came from the land and evidence of that is clear even when you look at them today. It wasn't too long ago I found out that seals actually have claws on the ends of their flippers, I was amazed.
@tothewestside Жыл бұрын
Thank you for making this video. I'm writing an essay about them for my degree and I am finding them the most interesting and charismatic animal. We are so fortunate so much work is being put into saving this animal. Freshwater pinnipeds are few and far between, and mad respect to Finland for saving this one
@lpsfoxstar84542 ай бұрын
I was fortunate enough to be in the presence of one as a child. Didn't quite see it as i didn't turn my head fast enough but i heard it poked its head out of the water to look at us kids few dozen meters away as we were swimming in the lake and our parents on the shore spotted the fella. Guess he wanted t join in the fun! Still a cherished memory.
@m4ssee4 жыл бұрын
This summer I finally saw one of these seals after 25 years of spending summers in the lake Saimaa and not more than less than a mile away from our summer cottage. :D
@ThePsihopatul2 жыл бұрын
Again got to love foreigners who know their stuff. Love this video. I was taught in school that "saimaan norppa" has no English translation.
@ShadySheev5 жыл бұрын
We Germans call seals Seehunde, which would literary translate to sea dogs in english. Just a fun fact in the light of of all the sea doggo comments :-)
@draw2death4214 жыл бұрын
In Finland ringed seals are called: norppa but we Call seals: hylje
@HONNEKI4 жыл бұрын
@@draw2death421 And the tiny one is called Kuutti :)
@hnnnnnnnnnng3 жыл бұрын
South slavs call sharks "sea-dogs" 😅
@ShadySheev3 жыл бұрын
@@hnnnnnnnnnng That seems... strange.
@legendre0075 жыл бұрын
Such beautiful and darling animals. 😊
@Kirgiisianmunakenno5 жыл бұрын
You can follow these seals live on online nature webcams! Certain individuals become national celebrities every summer (#team Pullervo). Also due to the warming climate, hundreds of locals come together every year to pile snow on the beaches and dig nesting dens for them. I'm proud of the change in mentality, from culled to national pets.
@BasedForever04 жыл бұрын
They are definitely Finnish btw: they descended from ringed seals that were isolated from the rest when the land arose after the last ice age and around the same time Finno-Ugric peoples came first to that land. Both are Europe's first.
@finnicpatriot6399 Жыл бұрын
Nah. Finno-Ugrics came much later than Kalevi Wiik's crackpot stone age theories suggest.
@elhombredeoro9555 жыл бұрын
Hey Ben, I again request you to make a video on completely different animals who are termed buffaloes and explain the difference between them.
@_robustus_5 жыл бұрын
I thought Lake Baikal had the only fresh water seals. Peoples always be lyin to me! Damn you David Attenborough! Where’s my gun?
@jika3275 жыл бұрын
(Finnish) Wikipedia claims that Baikal seal is the only seal species living exclusively in fresh water where as Saimaa ringed seal and Ladoga seal are subspecies of ringed seal. Some other subspecies of ringed seal live in seas from from arctic and baltic to pacific.
@Renjii19915 жыл бұрын
they all derive from ringseals
@finnicpatriot63995 жыл бұрын
@@jika327 Ladoga belongs to Finland too.
@toveriemppuz12525 ай бұрын
@@finnicpatriot6399 Ei se kyllä vaan oo pitkään aikaan kuulunu Suomelle.
@fang6095 жыл бұрын
Beautiful creatures.
@Taradoxxi5 жыл бұрын
hell yeah I love these cuties, very underappreciated species
@elliottotbc5 жыл бұрын
Hi Ben. I went to the IOW on Monday to Whitecliff Bay (right around the corner from Yaverland) not many fossils there other than a couple of shark teeth, gastropods and bivalves. When the tide goes out, there is are lignite beds which preserve the roots from ancient swamp trees. Interestingly the further East you go, there’s beds which are representative of freshwater sediments, these hold freshwater snails but not much else.
@jokuvaan51755 жыл бұрын
Yay. My suggestion was made into a video. ^_^
@mickeyamf5 жыл бұрын
That cover photo 😍😍😍 he a fuzzmuffin
@UnapologeticallyEboni5 жыл бұрын
Never heard of this seal... Thanks for posting
@nibbelius71795 жыл бұрын
Too bad they are dying cause there isn't enough snow in winter any more
@DISPERSAL6663 жыл бұрын
I'm from Finland and i love Saimaa ringed seals
@Wezqu4 жыл бұрын
Just thought to post this here. There is now one Saimaa Ringed Seal living in Korkeasaari Zoo in Helsinki Finland. So its now possible to anyone to see this dangered species easilly and if so want donate money for the reservation of this beautiful blob of flesh. To anyeone who thinks that it was captured from the wild it was not. It was rescued as a cub after getting injured most likely of some fishermans net. It was the first Saimaa Ringed Seal to survive after been found like that but he was not allowed to join his brethren back to Saimaa lake as he might have brought potentially dangerous new sickneses to the closed habitat. Korkeasaari got special permit to keep the seal there to educate and help the protection of its brethren for the future generations to enjoy.
@Tanygopteryx2515 жыл бұрын
I would suggest videos on the larger lakes of the world, like Baikal, Victoria, and the Great Lakes. They’re all interesting places.
@jeffreyschweitzer82895 жыл бұрын
Norman Atherton Baikal also has its own seals called nerpa
@silkworm68615 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the video! The much bigger Lagoda and Baikal lakes also have resident seal populations.
@jimmyshrimbe93615 жыл бұрын
I love this channel! I’ve learned so much! Plus The cryptozoology stuff is amazing!! I keep up with C.M. Koseman now and I have a copy of the Cryptozoologicon! Now I just need After Man and all the rest you mentioned and I’ll be good!
@frida35784 жыл бұрын
Too much cuteness 😍
@danstiver91355 жыл бұрын
Good lake doggos.
@joonaskosonen955 жыл бұрын
You might not know but there is a saimaa seal live stream that is uphold by wwf going on atm. It can be found at wwf suomi youtube or google norppalive
@fast1nakus5 жыл бұрын
it's always astonishing how small some animal populations are and so fragile
@davidm5874 жыл бұрын
Gorgeous seals . Hope their numbers increase !
@hazmat92795 жыл бұрын
Do they also use those long eyebrows for sensing?
@Silkendrum5 жыл бұрын
Given how beautiful their coat is, I'm surprised there are any left.
@lightsaber2305 жыл бұрын
Decompression sickness is usually caused by consumption of air at deeper depths then not discharging the nitrogen absorbed, this is done through slowly going shallower, if you go straight to the surface you are at a much higher risk of it happening. (Currently doing my advanced open water course and we have to learn about this stuff
@kaijudust92555 жыл бұрын
Love the colors
@1978cnk5 жыл бұрын
Keep up the incredible mindstorm the extensions of your ego produces. I love it...
@Thaif0105 жыл бұрын
I found this channel through the speculative zoology videos, which were fascinating and very useful for creating believable fictional creatures, big thanks for making those videos since I would not have found that topic on my own; the words "speculative zoology" sounds too pseudo-scientific for me since it immediately makes me think of cryptozoology. I happen to live at the southern part of lake Saimaa, which is the 4th largest lake in Europe by the way, and believe it or not people still have a contentious relationship and views on the Norppa as we call them. Mostly the conflict revolves around fishing; Fishers don't like the norppa "stealing" fish from their nets, since this tends to also rip the nets. They also often get tangled in these nets doing the "stealing" or just on accident and frequently drown. My own father is worried and irate that they(the county) might ban net fishing in Saimaa. There's already limitations on when one can use nets, particularly when the pups, or Kuutti in Finnish, are born. This would not stop fishing since there'd still be line-fishing, and fish trapping but it likely would lessen the amount of catch and affect their livelihood and threaten a traditional way of life. It never ceases to amaze me how shortsighted and ignorant people can be about animals and wildlife. Still, I have trust that as the generations change the situation improves for both the Norppa and the people of Saimaa when people find and develop better, effective and just means to conserve nature. Oh and Saimaa is a great place for a summer vacation. You can benefit from "everymans right" or Jokamiehen Oikeus, which means that one can freely use natures bounty, provided they do not egregiously disrupt, pollute or otherwise act disruptively in said activity. Foraging, fishing and camping is totally A-OK as long as you don't break any rules or laws and observe any possible Forest Fire Warnings. Tulkaa ihmeessä käymää!
@pieRana3 жыл бұрын
nice vid! I thought we also had some ringed seals in Canada, oh well, I'll keep looking to see any clarification on that. I found it really interesting how they don't eat the salmon that live in the same water as them, preferring the smaller fish, and they're suffering from mercury contamination... It makes me wonder if the reason why they avoid the salmon is because larger fish store more mercury in them? Also confusing because... if the seals are suffering from mercury poisoning... then I'd imagine the salmon as well, making them unhealthy to fish... wouldn't that be concerning since they were so worried about their fish?
@thatfellashak61435 жыл бұрын
So squishy
@Whocares.........5 жыл бұрын
Thanks again Ben! Well Done.
@Shaden00405 жыл бұрын
I wounder how they got secluded to one lake in the past. Possibly they were trapped by a glacial dam locking them into a giant fresh water glacial dam lake away from the sea. When the dam broke eventually, the lake lowered trapping the seals in the remaining lake after they had adapted to the fresh water conditions and fish to eat.
@Wezqu4 жыл бұрын
The land in northern europe is rising little by little every year. During the iceage the ice caused so much pressure on the ground it caused a "dent" to the ground. After the ice melted that dent is straigtening up but very slowly. Lake Saimaa once was part of the sea but as the ground raised slowly it caused it to be cut off from the baltic sea. It of course was salty still but slowly it turned to be pure water lake as the salt was slowly drained back to the sea. Thats why the seals managed to adapt as it took a long time to the lake to become fully fresh water lake so they had generations to adapt. This is also what happened to the Ladoga Seal that lives in the lake Ladoga on the Russian side of the border not that far from Saimaa.
@LadyhawksLairDotCom5 жыл бұрын
Obviously, I could Google it, but...how did people first learn about decompression sickness? Who was the first person to get it? How long did it take us to figure out exactly what was going on?
@tseuren1235 жыл бұрын
Probably known for hundreds/ thousends of years, some cultures dive in the sea for food for very long. But too the scientific world i dont know
@LadyhawksLairDotCom5 жыл бұрын
@@tseuren123 Like I said, a quick Google would tell me, but I'm lazy today. I just Googled it, anyway. Freediving won't cause decompression illness except in extreme circumstances, so I'm pretty sure it was a rarity or perhaps even nonexistent until the invention of scuba gear. If any ancient people dived to extreme depths (unlikely) and died of decompression sickness, it would have been chalked up to drowning, most likely, so I'd gamble there are no historical records of decompression illness before scuba equipment. Today most people stick to shallow dives (what ancient people would have done). That won't cause the bends. blue-addiction.com/en/dcs-in-free-diving/
@jameshenry35305 жыл бұрын
There are only two species of fresh-water seals, as far as I know. The Saimaa and a species that lives in Lake Baikal.
@trashcraftretired1895 жыл бұрын
A episode on the Remora fish would be pretty cool
@kaimaan8445 жыл бұрын
Suomi mainittu. Torilla tavataan!
@sakkeko31065 жыл бұрын
Ookko pelannu Morrowindia?
@nibbelius71795 жыл бұрын
@@sakkeko3106 nice
@sakkeko31065 жыл бұрын
Platypus Plays ?
@maitrejuju95834 жыл бұрын
Very Cute chonky seal
@diamondobsidian42565 жыл бұрын
I have researched about this seal. It is amazing. I hope it can come out of its endangerment
@themarblers43995 жыл бұрын
OMG THE LAKE DOGGOS!!!
@aidenisbill56975 жыл бұрын
to people who have lives they are called whiskers lol best part
@GiffysChannel5 жыл бұрын
I just love these videos!
@backstreetfan28873 жыл бұрын
seals are so cute
@1lobster5 жыл бұрын
may be the finns could train the seals to catch fish in nets? simaler to how the Chinese use specially trained diving birds?
@brasssentry20915 жыл бұрын
I'm Finnish and you make me speechless. Why the hell would we train seals to catch fish
@1lobster5 жыл бұрын
brass sentry in order to make their success our success. the more seals we breed, the more fish we catch.
@Teknokraatti5 жыл бұрын
@#1 lobster That's not a good idea, for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the visibility in Finnish lakes is poor due to shallow depth and significant infall of organic matter. This makes spotting a net underwater extremely difficult for the seals. Training them to approach the netted areas would drastically drive up the numbers of seals drowning due to getting dangled up in a net. Secondarily, the Chinese fishing industry is mainly centered on oceanic shelf and blue waters. Neither of those exist in the shallow Saimaa. One of the consequences is that Saimaa is unsuitable for large scale trawling and quite often the nets are static, not moving, which makes using animals as aid more difficult. The third point is perhaps as important as the first: Finland is not a poor, rural country with limited infrastructure anymore. Saimaa is already being fished at the sustainability threshold and any further increase by any means would mean a collapse in the fish populations. This would not only be a catastrophe for the local fish industry and Finnish cuisine as a whole, but also for the seal, as its primary and pretty much only source of food would be gone. The fourth is that seals are active predators. At the time their numbers are so small that their share of the fish is practically meaningless, but were they to return to a healthy population, they would actually need enough fish to compete with the industry. Remember, we're talking about a lake that freezes over in the winter.
@1lobster5 жыл бұрын
Miska Kopperoinen forgive me for believing capitalist problems require capitalist salutation.
@Teknokraatti5 жыл бұрын
If you take nothing else away from my comment, just take this: Saimaa is a lake that is already being fished so heavily that some studies question whether the fish stocks are already receding. Increasing the catches would be a certain death for the seal as they and their pups would starve. There is a capitalist solution though. Inland, fresh-water seals in a natural habitat are exceedingly rare. They're reasonably friendly and curious, they're not dangerous at all. They live in picturesque environments that are fairly warm and sunny during late summer. If you just thought of tourism, we're on the same track. Just as a friendly tip, you might want to use the word 'solution' Capitalist greetings are hardly useful for solving many problems.
@1821-y6n5 жыл бұрын
Damn and I thought Mediterranean monk seals where endangered.
@GreggRulzok5 жыл бұрын
Why am i whatching this at 1 am...
@OmegaWolf7475 жыл бұрын
Aw. They're sweet.
@oliverwilson115 жыл бұрын
It's very sad that they became so endangered :( but good that they are recovering How do they get through the ice to hunt during winter?
@jokuvaan51755 жыл бұрын
They have sharp claws which the use to scratch/dig through the ice. They can use same holes through the winter. Just go through them often enough so they don't have time to entirely freeze
@josephfrye87505 жыл бұрын
If they go extinct, we can replicate it like Jurassic Park.
@egemenozcelik74945 жыл бұрын
Thats not how it works...
@quasiBooter5 жыл бұрын
@@egemenozcelik7494 yes it is
@egemenozcelik74945 жыл бұрын
@@quasiBooter do you have any idea on biology ?
@Retsuiga5 жыл бұрын
Never liked a video so quick.
@danger63714 жыл бұрын
The seal in the thumbnail looks angry at something
@raullimon42105 жыл бұрын
For the next animal of the week can you do the red wolf?
@fabianchan75 жыл бұрын
Hi. Perhaps u can do a video on the Sumatran Rhinos. Lately, the rhinos of Borneo are confirmed extinct.
@joegaynor4385 жыл бұрын
veryi nteresting , I always wondered about this seal
@Tanygopteryx2515 жыл бұрын
1:55 have I just been kicked out of the nerd club?
@GOKUSANCHEZSHORTS5 жыл бұрын
Lake seals lake seals
@soundonly7155 Жыл бұрын
YEEEAAAAAH SEEEAAAAAAAL
@wtch-1tn11 ай бұрын
im happy to be finnish
@Game...0075 жыл бұрын
So, do they stay on the islands in winter?
@jokuvaan51755 жыл бұрын
No. They have sharp claws which they use to dig holes in the ice during the winter so they can breathe and get out of the water if they need to.
@CharlieApples10 ай бұрын
It must be so weird for animals when we build them houses. Like, it must make no sense to them why we’d spend so much time building a den and then not live in it.
@tinycrimester4 жыл бұрын
ringed goodboys :3
@umartdagnir5 жыл бұрын
How to they survive when the lake freezes over? They still need to go to the surface to breath, right?
@Wezqu4 жыл бұрын
There is always weak spots in any ice and they do keep holes open if it gets that cold that it freezes too fast. They can hold their breath a long time and they remember where the holes are.
@The_PokeSaurus5 жыл бұрын
Could you do the Sail Water Crocodile next?
@The_PokeSaurus5 жыл бұрын
@Yokomation Studios Salt, Water.
@scottc3465 жыл бұрын
it's done?
@naturebrothers18444 жыл бұрын
Fresh water seals
@HiTechKeema5 жыл бұрын
1:54 "They also have vibrissae, known to normal people who have lives as whiskers."
@dumoulin115 жыл бұрын
Actually he's correct to call them vibrissae.
@HiTechKeema5 жыл бұрын
@@dumoulin11 I'm aware. I wasn't doubting the veracity of that.
@elwaspa61375 жыл бұрын
3:20 so basically the harp, ringed, musk, and elephant seal are almost wiped off the face of this Earth by humans. After humans blame seals for eating all the fish but it turns out the humans just want to watch sea puppers get hooked in the skull. IM LOOKING AT YOU CANADA.
@chrisrus19655 жыл бұрын
Good but why not show the cladistics? You of all people should be more interested in showing how this species stemmed from which branch on the seal family tree as far as we can tell at this point and how they connect to the larger branches on the tree of life. You of all people should know to do this in each video because your videos always end with and you carry as an icon with you everywhere the symbol of the Tree of Life. This would make me think you would be old more interested and always including the cladistics of each animal in a visual way so the viewer can see how it connects home to the other branches of the Tree of Life.
@oliverwilson115 жыл бұрын
It's a seal. It's related to other seals. Seals are pinnipeds. Pinnipeds are most closely related to musteloids
@chrisrus19655 жыл бұрын
@@oliverwilson11 Graphically.
@warriorslegends19205 жыл бұрын
Your sound should be a little louder
@pietaricollander6725 жыл бұрын
SUOMI MAINITTU TORILLA TAVATAAN
@hensorsa40165 жыл бұрын
Kuka suomesta
@prestonjones16535 жыл бұрын
Damned Finns, hogging all the cute stuff.
@SilverGamingFI5 жыл бұрын
Come and get it, we'll never give up our seals!
@SCR_ProductionsYT5 жыл бұрын
COMMON REDSTART PLSSSS!!!
@melvinshine98415 жыл бұрын
I'm sorry, but the person at 4:25 looks like he/she is dead and someone just dumped the body there.
@nikkibaugher5425 жыл бұрын
You are confusing nitrogen narcosis with "the bends"
@madderhat58525 жыл бұрын
I was really enjoying this video and then it just Fin-ished. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....um, cause they're Finnish. From Finland. I'll leave now.............
@SeafoamBoi5 жыл бұрын
Lamest joke in existence. Just like telling a turkish person if they like eating turkey or asking hungariam if theyre hungry. T: a finn
@nicosmind35 жыл бұрын
Worlds cutest seal. Plus it looks tasty.
@sarcasticdemon76695 жыл бұрын
Don't fucking eat them. 😡
@78deathface5 жыл бұрын
Chubby
@dogslivesmatterdanielstanc2144 жыл бұрын
Those pictures a song came to me A SONG CALLED I'M TO SEXY FROM...IT WAS MADE IN THE 1990 I THINK
@Clone3945 жыл бұрын
This video is Finnish.
@bof88505 жыл бұрын
Clubbing time!
@tristanread12 ай бұрын
The pronouniation is terrible. Try ''Sighmaa''
@skzion25 жыл бұрын
I like your videos despite their regular reference to "climate change," which is code for "man-made climate change." The methodology for determining "climate change" is extremely primitive. I mean, hockey sticks? Linear regression for a phenomenon that involves cycles within cycles? One thing is clear, though, extinction is part of evolution. It's neither good nor bad.