Nature reclaims its rights: Polar bears colonize a Soviet ghost town

Russian photographer Dmitry Kokh, who specializes in capturing Arctic wildlife and extreme landscapes, has taken a series of photographs destined to make history in nature photojournalism.

During a summer expedition to reach Wrangel Island, unusually cold temperatures had driven the large mammals to move elsewhere, altering the Moscow-based reporter’s initial plans.

The turning point came as they sailed near Kolyuchin Island, a tiny patch of land covered by tundra, barely four and a half kilometers long and less than one and a half kilometers wide, located in the Chukchi Sea between Siberia and Alaska. As they approached the coast of the Chukotka Peninsula, the team noticed unusual movements behind the broken windows of a complex of abandoned buildings. To their immense surprise, they discovered that a group of polar bears had taken up residence in the structures—a behavior never before documented in this region.

Nature’s return amid the remnants of the Cold War

The outpost where the animals have settled is a former Soviet weather station. It was built in the 1930s to monitor shipping routes and the Arctic climate during the region’s development. It was later reinforced by the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War before being permanently abandoned in the 1990s following the collapse of the USSR.

Today, this ghost town—which also preserves historical traces of walrus hunters—has taken on a new purpose. Polar bears do not use the corridors and dilapidated rooms as permanent dens, but they do use the structure to find temporary shelter from the freezing winds and storms. To capture images of the predators safely and with respect for animal welfare, Dmitry Kokh employed a strict non-disturbance approach, avoiding any direct contact, while taking his photographs from a distance.

Climate adaptation and international acclaim

The impact of Dmitry Kokh’s visual work goes beyond mere aesthetic appeal: the image of a bear leaning out a window, in fact, won first prize across all categories in the wildlife section of the prestigious “Nature Photographer of the Year” photography competition (organized by National Geographic Russia).

Behind the poetry of these reclaimed ruins, however, lies the threat of global climate change. The structures originally built to study the environment are now an integral part of the landscape, a symbol of nature reclaiming its spaces. This phenomenon is due to gradual global warming, which is drastically reducing the extent of sea ice, forcing the walruses to spend more time on land because of the difficulties they face in hunting seals.