OtterKnow Kids EncyclopediaLake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world. It is over 5,300 feet deep, which is more than a mile straight down! The lake is in Siberia, a cold part of Russia. It is also the oldest lake in the world, formed about 25 million years ago.
Many animals live in and around Lake Baikal that are found nowhere else. The Baikal seal, also called the nerpa, is the only seal in the world that lives entirely in fresh water. The water is very clean and clear.
- Lake Baikal holds more fresh water than any other lake on Earth.
- It has about one-fifth of all the fresh water in the world’s lakes!
- In winter, the lake freezes solid, and the ice can be thick enough to drive a truck across.
- Over 350 rivers flow into the lake, but only one river, the Angara, flows out.
