15 May 2025: New study reveals complex history of northern European ringed seals

A new study by Tange Olsen and colleagues, titled “Complex origins and history of the relict Fennoscandian ringed seals”, was published in Ecology and Evolution in April 2025. The study explores how the small, landlocked populations of ringed seals in Finland and Sweden became isolated and how they have changed over time.

The research shows that these freshwater seal populations, found in lakes like Saimaa and Ladoga, were likely cut off from the sea when the large Scandinavian ice sheet melted at the end of the last Ice Age. The genetic results reveal that these populations are very distinct from each other and from Arctic ringed seals, with long and separate histories.

These findings are important for understanding how past climate change shaped marine mammal populations of today and for conserving the few remaining freshwater seals today, some of which are critically endangered.

Read the full article here: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71067

Photo credit: Juha Taskinen / WWF