Baikal is the oldest lake in the world and,
despite the harsh conditions,
life flourishes here in isolation.
80% of its species are found nowhere else on earth,
including the world's only fresh water seal.
With this seal
and its marine-like forests of sponges Baikal
seems more like an ocean than a lake.
There are shrimp-like crustaceans -
giant amphipods - as large as mice.
They are the key scavengers in this lake.
The water here is just too cold for the bacteria
that normally decompose the dead.
Most rivers do not end in lakes
but continue their journey to the sea.
The planet's indisputable super-river is the Amazon.
It carries as much water as
the next top-ten biggest rivers combined.