Dozens of polar bears have been living in abandoned buildings on the island, and a Russian photographer recently took pictures of the bears peering through windows and standing on porches.
When photographer Dmitry Kokh traveled to the remote Russian region of northern Chukotka in late summer 2021, he was hoping to find polar bears to photograph on Wrangel Island, a natural reserve and World Heritage site that is protected by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.
There were more than 20 polar bears living in buildings that were once part of a Soviet weather station on the small island south of Wrangel Island. Kokh photographed the polar bears in their dilapidated homes and shared the photos on his website and on social media, along with other examples of his dramatic marine wildlife photography, and the images struck a chord with viewers and quickly went viral, Kokh told Live Science.
Stunning shots capture Earth's icons of climate change.
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Kokh noticed that there was more sea ice than usual when he sailed north from the capital of Chukotka to the islands. He said that sea ice could explain why the bears were visiting Kolyuchin Island instead of sticking to their usual summer territories farther north.
He said that the island is so small that you can see almost the entire island from your boat, and that there was once a Russian weather station on the island. Kokh saw a bear in the window of the weather station after his boat docked near Kolyuchin. All of them were inside the building.
Kokh used a camera mounted on an aerial drone that had been modified with low- noise propellers to slowly approach the bears without disturbing them. When it comes to polar bears, looks can be deceiving, Kokh warned.
He said that polar bears are very clever and sometimes tricky to hunt.
A nature reserve employee was with the group at all times, carrying a rifle and flares as a precautionary measure. The polar bears can gallop up to 24 mph (40 km/h), but for all that weight, they are surprisingly quick.
Climate change is altering the habitat of polar bears, who have invaded towns in the Russian Arctic in search of food. The sea ice that bears depend on for hunting has shrunk and grown thinner, and researchers predict that summer sea ice could disappear from the Arctic by the end of the century.
Kokh told Live Science that the images of the bears peering out from ramshackle buildings are a reminder that life on Earth can persist even as human-made objects and structures break down.
He said that life will exist only if we care about it.
It was originally published on Live Science.
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