ByREUTERS
Updated:

Polar bears have taken over an abandoned Soviet polar research station on small island off Russia's far northeastern coast.

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.

Polar bears take over the abandoned Soviet-era research station on Kolyuchin Island in the Chukchi Sea, in Russia's far northeast, September 14, 2025, in this still image taken from a drone video.
Polar bears take over the abandoned Soviet-era research station on Kolyuchin Island in the Chukchi Sea, in Russia's far northeast, September 14, 2025, in this still image taken from a drone video. (credit: @makhorov/Handout via REUTERS)

The village of polar bears

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."

Polar bears take over abandoned research station in Russian Arctic (Instagram.com/makhorov/Reuters)

Scientists left the research station, which is in an abandoned village, soon after the Soviet Union's collapse over three decades ago.