Zapovednik Wrangel Island, Nature reserve in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia.
Wrangel Island Nature Reserve occupies a remote Arctic island between the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas, featuring tundra vegetation, ice fields, and coastal wetlands. The landscape displays a harsh, wind-swept terrain dominated by mosses and lichens, with rocky and gravel shorelines marking the ocean's edge.
The Russian government established this reserve in 1976 to protect Arctic ecosystems from exploitation. UNESCO recognized its global importance and designated it a World Heritage Site in 2004.
The island's name comes from Ferdinand von Wrangel, a 19th-century Russian explorer who mapped Arctic regions. Today, the reserve is home to indigenous Chukchi and Yupik peoples who maintain traditional subsistence practices in this remote corner of the world.
Visitors need special permits from Russian authorities and can reach the island only during summer months via authorized expedition cruises. Conditions are extreme, with pack ice, rough seas, and extended daylight, so good physical preparation is essential.
The island served as the final refuge for woolly mammoths, which survived there for roughly 4,000 years after disappearing from mainland Asia. This isolated population reveals how a species could persist in extreme conditions long after vanishing elsewhere.
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