Polar bears take over abandoned research station in Russian Arctic
Polar bears have taken over an abandoned Soviet polar research station on small island off Russia’s far northeastern cost.
Vadim Makhorov, a travel blogger, used a drone to film the bears roaming in and out of the facility’s scattered buildings in the late summer Arctic sun this month on Kolyuchin Island in the Chukchi Sea.
One snapped at the drone as it approached. Others playfully poked their heads out of the buildings as they were filmed.
“I think they see these houses as shelter from the wind, rain and other things,” Makhorov told Reuters. “In general, they get along fine there.”
Scientists left the research station, which is in an abandoned village, soon after the Soviet Union’s collapse over three decades ago.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Arctic hare breaks all records by travelling almost 400 km, Eye on the Arctic
Finland: Conservationists find more critically endangered Arctic fox cubs in Finnish Lapland, Yle News
Greenland: Researchers identify polar bear population that hunts off glacier ice, Eye on the Arctic
Norway: Could drones help prevent polar bear attacks on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard?, The Independent Barents Observer
United States: Alaska firefighters help rescue a moose trapped in a home, The Associated Press
