A Russian underwater and wildlife photographer, Dmitry Kokh, has captured stunning photos of polar bears living in an abandoned arctic weather station.
In 2021, Dmitry took an unforgettable trip to the Kolyuchin Islands in the Chukchi sea — a sea found between Russia and Alaska.
This polar station was abandoned about 30 years ago. But when its former inhabitants moved out, new tenants moved in, making themselves at home. And from the photos, they seem to be loving it there.
Dmitry’s photos are a breath of fresh air. We often see sad pictures of polar bears struggling against climate change, but here you can see them peering from windows, relaxing on the grass, and enjoying the freedom of this remote island.
“Being the farthest and most Eastern part of the Russian Arctic, this place is tough to get but also difficult to forget,” Dmitry Khok writes. “We traveled by the sailing yacht along the coast and covered more than 1,200 miles of untouched landscapes; villages lost in time, spots with various faunas, and seas full of life.”
Kolyuchin Island: The polar bear haven
Initially, Kokh planned on photographing bears on Russia’s Wrangel Island. Wrangel Island is a nature reserve under Unesco’s protection and is also known as the polar bear maternity ward. It’s also remote, making it an excellent place for animals to flourish.
Though the island usually teems with polar bears, Kokh and his companions didn’t find any when he visited it.
But in a twist of good fate, they found polar bears at another place — Kolyuchin Island. Kokh says the boat’s captain expected terrible weather and approached the island to take shelter. And that’s how he met something unexpected.
To him, the stormy wind, rain, and the abandoned buildings on a rocky backdrop made the encounter dreamlike.
“Someone took out some binoculars, and we saw the heads of polar bears. Fog, a place long deserted by people, and polar bears, was the perfect setting,” Kokh writes.
Kolyuchin Island lies 6.8 miles (11 km) north of Russia’s Chukotka Peninsula. The polar station was built by Soviet scientists in 1934 but was abandoned in 1992. So currently, there are no human inhabitants on the island.
Dmitry Kokh’s amazing polar bear pictures
Kokh used a camera mounted on an aerial drone equipped with low-noise propellers to take the shots. He wanted to take photos without disturbing the bears. And after a while, the polar bears got used to the unusual buzzing.
The bears were at home, walking in the house and among the barrels. He says there were about 20 polar bears on the island, mostly males. The females stayed closer to the shores.
Kokh’s photos show undisturbed and chill polar bears. One shot from his series shows a polar bear leaning out of a broken window. It won the “Best Image of Wildlife in an Anthropogenic Environment” in a 2021 Russian photography contest organized by National Geographic.
You can find more wildlife pictures by Dmitry Kokh on his website and Instagram account.
Conservation of polar bear habitats
Polar bears inhabit remote parts of the Arctic and can survive in one of the harshest environments on earth. They have thick fur and blubber (layer of fat) to protect them from highly chilly weather and near-freezing water.
Another interesting trivia is that scientists classify polar bears as marine animals. These incredible animals also have a fantastic sense of smell — they can smell their prey from about 16 km away.
Unfortunately, climate change is affecting their habitat. In the past five decades, the sea ice that polar bears depend on for food and breeding has been shrinking at an alarming rate.
Scientists predict they could become extinct by 2100 if humans don’t do anything about climate change.
“Polar bears are already sitting at the top of the world; if the ice goes, they have no place to go,” says Dr. Peter Molnar, an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. His research is focused on the ecological impacts of environmental change.
Dmitry Kokh also reiterates conservation sentiments. He believes we can continue seeing beautiful wildlife photos if we preserve our environment. He writes that life will live forever only if “we humans finally begin to take care of the planet and the living creatures that need our protection.”
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