Your questions answered:

Why can the seal only live in areas surrounded by the Caspian sea?
It is not known exactly why Caspian seals are confined to the landlocked Caspian Sea. One inference is that the seals came to the Caspian Sea in the Quaternary period* when there were ice sheets were developing. *The Quaternary period is the"most recent geologic period: the current period of geologic time, beginning 1.6 million years ago and characterized by the appearance and dominance of humans" (http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861697935/Quaternary.html)

Are there any laws that protect the seals?
Protective measures for the Caspian seal began in the 1940s with the banning of seal nets. (4)

you said that the seal was an ice breeding animal. What does this mean?
This means that they are born in on the water ice-field in the northern part of the Caspian Sea. ( 3)

So far, has this Caspian Seal Conservation network been successful in everything its done? Has it truly helped the population of Caspian seals flourish more?
The Caspian Seal Conservation network is doing research about the Caspian seal. There has not been an increase in the population, but they are hopeful. They use this information to educate the countries so they understand what needs to be done to save the Caspian seal. (1,2,3)

Does the U.S. have any of these organizations?
No, they United States does not have any of these organizations because the Caspian seal only resides in the Caspian Sea.

Does the Darwin Initiative help any other animals besides the caspian seal?
The Darwin Initiative helps many animals. Since the starting of this organization, they have funded 644 projects including the Caspian Seal Project. (http://darwin.defra.gov.uk/)

What is being done?


An organization called the Caspian Seal Conservation Network was created in 1997. This organization includes the four countries of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan. The purpose of the CSCN is

"1. To facilitate communication between seal biologists in the Caspian region
2. To facilitate inter-country cooperation in research projects relating the Caspian seal conservation biology
3. To develop, maintain and hold databases on data collected during the Caspian seal monitoring programmes
4. To develop scientific quality control for data held and disseminated
5. To communicate with, and provide scientific information for, stakeholders in the region
6. To develop and implement the Caspian Seal Conservation Action and Management Plan (SCAMP) together with stakeholders in the region" (3)

This network is part of a larger organizations called the Darwin Caspian Seal Project. This organization was founded after a meeting of the World Bank. Here, they discussed concerns about the rapidly declining population of the Caspian seal. The Darwin project researches the diet, healths status, migration patterns, genetics, habitat, population, and mortality analysis.This meeting led to a large investigation of the Caspian seal and possible causes of their declining population. The seal project studies different aspects of the seals' life such as their diet, health, population, threats to their lives, and other aspects. This organizations works along side other organizations to reduce and prevent Caspian seal extinction. (3)

Currently, the Caspian seal is listed as ENDANGERED on the IUNC Red List of Threatened Species (note: this was last assessed in 2008). To be considered endangered, over a 10 year period or three generations, the population of the animal music decrease by approximately 70%.(4).

Threats to Caspian seals: Before the fall of the Soviet Union, seal hunting was very prevalent. While the seal hunting did decrease, Russia still has commercial hunts. Whether deliberately killing the seals or seals being trapped in fishing nets, fishermen play a large role in the endangerment of the Caspian seal. The population of the Caspian seal is also affected by disease, chemicals know as organochlorine (example: DDT) get into the food chain and cause infertility, and there are multiple disturbances to their food chain. The changing climate will severely impart the water temperatures of the Caspian Sea. With rising water temperatures, there will be a reduction in the number of ice fields. This will severely impact the Caspian seal because they are ice-breeding animals and without these ice fields, reproduction will be less frequent. (3)

Interesting Facts:

1. There have been found high levels of DDT in some seals' blubber. (3)
2. In 2000 a couple thousand seals' death were blamed on canine distemper virus. (3)
3. Human disturbance greatly impacts the seals' habitat. Also, humans purposely kill seals. Approximately 500+ Caspian seal deaths are due to fishers (3)

Photo: http://www.caspianseal.org/info

This is what a Caspian seal looks like at birth.

Taxonomy (6)

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordate
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Pinnipedia
Family: Phocidae
Genus: Pusa
Species: P. caspica

Description: Caspian seals are distinguished by the spots on their body. On average, adults can reach 1.5 meters and 86 kilograms. The males generally are larger than the females and the females have lighter spots on their body. These seals reside with many other seals in colonies. The can dive, on average, 50 meters down. Caspian seal pups are born with hair, also known as pelage. All this hair falls out when the pup reaches about three months old. (6)

Photo:http://www.caspianenvironment.org/biodb/eng/mammals/Phoca%20(Pusa)%20caspica/main.htm

Habitat: The only place where the Caspian seal can be found is within the lands which surround the Caspian Sea. These seals can not only be found on the shorelines of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation, and Turkmenistan (4) but also on the is sheets and the islands located throughout the sea (6).

Photo: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/41669

Diet: A Caspian seal's diet consists of a variety of fish species. These mostly include roach, zander, gobies, and bream among others. (4)