Over 2,500 Dead Seals Wash Up On Russia's Caspian Shore

According to authorities from the North Caucasus area, as reported by CNN, around 2,500 dead seals were found off the coast of Russia in the Caspian Sea.?

Since 2008, the Caspian seal, the only animal species found in the Caspian Sea, has been listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Dagestan's Ministry of Natural Resources blamed "natural reasons" for the fatalities and voiced fear that there may be many more dead seals.?

The seals seemed to have died around two weeks ago, and the ministry said there were "no signs of violent death, no remains of fishing nets."

Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Turkmenistan are the five nations that form the Caspian Sea's border. The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water.

The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment says that 700 dead seals were found off the coast on Saturday, but that number has grown to 2,500.

Reports from the news agency RIA Novosti are cited in the article as saying that inspectors were combing the beach for additional seals. While the Caspian Environmental Center's researchers were still examining tissue samples from the deceased seals, the cause of death remained a mystery.

According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the number of Caspian seals has been affected due to excessive hunting, the destruction of their habitat, and climate change.?

After this incident, the Dagestan ministry stated that there is still a stable population of Caspian seals in the area, which ranges from 270,000 to 300,000.

RIA reports that seals are at the very top of the food chain and do not have any natural predators until they reach adulthood. They can reach lengths of over 1.6 meters (5.2 feet) and weights of up to 100 kilos as they mature (200 pounds).

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