Tourists and researchers aboard the vessel Akademik Shokalskiy were in for a surprise when they spotted over 200 polar bears on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean. The bears had gathered near a whale carcass, lured by its scent.

The sight was so remarkable that Capt. Rodney Russ of Heritage Expeditions called it a day he and others would never forget. He shared, “We counted over 150 polar bears (of all ages, sexes, and sizes) that were either feeding or had been feeding on [the whale]. We launched the Zodiacs for a closer look, and that is the memory we will all carry with us… there are no words to describe it.”

Wrangel Island, a nature reserve between the Chukchi Sea and East Siberian Sea, has the highest density of polar bear dens globally, with up to 400 mother bears raising their cubs on the island during winter.

The increasing number of polar bears visiting Wrangel Island during summers is due to the diminishing ice pack in surrounding regions.

The island is renowned as the “Galapagos of the North” and is believed to be the last place on Earth where woolly mammoths survived.