[00:00.89]Baikal is the oldest lake in the world and,
[00:04.23]despite the harsh conditions,
[00:06.36]life flourishes here in isolation.
[00:11.33]80% of its species are found nowhere else on earth,
[00:15.09]including the world's only fresh water seal.
[00:18.51]With this seal
[00:21.48]and its marine-like forests of sponges Baikal
[00:25.27]seems more like an ocean than a lake.
[00:29.86]There are shrimp-like crustaceans -
[00:32.63]giant amphipods - as large as mice.
[00:36.72]They are the key scavengers in this lake.
[00:40.50]The water here is just too cold for the bacteria
[00:43.39]that normally decompose the dead.
[00:47.72]Most rivers do not end in lakes
[00:51.12]but continue their journey to the sea.
[00:54.59]The planet's indisputable super-river is the Amazon.
[01:00.55]It carries as much water as
[01:03.17]the next top-ten biggest rivers combined.