Remembering an old TV show, the
Baikal seals seem to date from a time when Baikal was a inlet of the ocean
-- a VERY long time ago. These are *fresh-water* seals. "Ozero Baykal"
(north of central Mongolia, in Russian Siberia) is a water-filled rift valley
much in the style of the Great Lakes of East Central Africa. It drains to the
Arctic Ocean via the Yenisey. The fact one could follow the river down from
Lake Baikal to Troy, never encountering salt water, is compelling.
I know nothing about Aral seals,
but I would have no problem believing that Baikal seals moved downstream,
perhaps even as far as Troy, during the last Ice Age.
One of the proofs that these Central Asian lakes
was united to Sea is the presence of species of seals in Baikal and
Aral.
Joao SL