Remember the song: "Nine months is winter, the rest is summer"? As applied to Wrangel Island, it can be paraphrased: “Ten months in ice …” The climate here is more than harsh. But nature is amazing!
Wrangel Island cannot be called small: 150 km long and 75 km wide. In terms of area, it is quite comparable to Cyprus. Why was such a “baby” discovered so late - only in the middle of the 19th century? After all, even Lomonosov in 1763 predicted its location quite accurately, marking a large island on the map of the polar regions north of Chukotka as "Doubtful". But then no one listened to Mikhail Vasilyevich. The time to explore the northeastern coast of Siberia came later. In 1820-1824 the expedition to Chukotka was headed by Lieutenant Ferdinand Wrangel. From a conversation with the elders, he learned that there were some mountains in the north. Wrangel three times on dog sleds tried to explore this area, moving 150-200 km deep into the peninsula, but each time he had to come back. The movement was blocked by the powerful heaps of hummocks,then many kilometers polynyas.
Nevertheless, Wrangel became the first European to report the existence of an island north of Chukotka and even mapped it, slightly shifting it to the west of its real location. It is significant: the 180th meridian divides the island in half. So the Eastern and Western Hemispheres received almost equal shares.
In 1849, the Englishman Henry Kellett on his ship "Herald" in search of the missing expedition of John Franklin accidentally came across a small island not far from Chukotka. Without thinking twice, he named it Herald - after the ship. And although there were still mountains nearby, the shabby long voyage of Kellett's expedition turned back home. If he knew what he left behind the future Wrangel Island!
But eighteen years later, a whaler and a very enlightened traveler, the American Thomas Long, arrived here on the Nile. He had heard about the search for Ferdinand Wrangel and, having reached the island, generously gave the island the name of a Russian. Than he managed to please Wrangel himself, by that time a retired admiral, who had never been on "his" island. The whaler himself was content with the fact that he named the strait to Chukotka in his honor - the Long Strait.
In 1911, the first Russian expedition moored to Wrangel Island on the Vaigach vessel, and the national flag was planted here. And five years later, the government declared that the island belonged to the Russian Empire.
FINDING IN THE DEAD RAVEN
Promotional video:
Wrangel Island was explored in relative detail only in 1933: Soviet polar explorers stayed for the winter, building the first station in Rogers Bay. Winter is a loose concept here: it lasts from September to June. Moreover, as a rule, it begins and ends with hurricane winds at speeds up to 150 km / h! Such a "fan" literally blows off the falling snow from the mountains and hills, forming snowdrifts up to 25 meters deep!
It is clear that in four months, while the temperature on the island is above zero (and the warmest here is in June - as much as +3 degrees), archaeologists will not roam. Nevertheless, in 1975, traces of the presence of an ancient man were found in the area of the Devil's Ravine. It turned out that the first people - the Paleo-Eskimos - lived on the island as early as 1750 BC. What helped them survive in such a harsh climate? It is not difficult to answer this question: the Paleo-Eskimos were skillful hunters, they hunted walruses and other living creatures, and they caught fish in the sea (there is no fish on the island itself - lakes and rivers freeze to the bottom). But how did these people end up here? Why did they disappear about 700 years ago? This remains to be seen.
By the way, you won't find hunters on Wrangel Island now: since 1976 it has been an Arctic reserve - the first in Russia. The land area and the surrounding water area 24 nautical miles wide are subject to protection. And in 2004, the Wrangel Island nature reserve also became the first arctic site in the UNESCO World Natural Heritage List. And that's why.
ARCTIC MATERNITY HOSPITAL
The Chukchi called the Wrangel Island "Umkilir", that is, the island of polar bears. There are many clubfoots here and now. It is no coincidence that Wrangel Island is jokingly called "the bear's maternity hospital in the Arctic." The conditions are perfect here. Having fed up while hunting for seals in the coastal strip, polar bears arrange dens on the island from September to November: on the slopes of the mountains in snowdrifts, one can count from 300 to 500 such snow dwellings. In April, female bears leave their dens with their babies.
But if in the case of polar bears their number is surprising, then another large animal is a wonder in itself. These are musk oxen. Delivered from the island of Nunivak (USA) in 1975, they perfectly settled down on Wrangel Island - there are now about 1000 of them. But once in these places they grazed along with mammoths. By the way, the latter lived here relatively recently - only 3.6 thousand years ago. This is exactly the age of the dwarf mammoth found on the island.
Alas, the northern prairies have given way to permafrost. Mammoths became extinct, and more tenacious musk oxen survived. These animals were saved from human extermination, and now small populations have remained in North America and Greenland. By the way, Wrangel Island is the northernmost abode of musk oxen. How do they manage to survive in severe winters? At this time, they move to the valleys - the so-called mammoth prairies, where in a short summer grow not only scarce arctic grass, but also wormwood and feather grass typical of central Russia. By the way, 417 species and subspecies of vascular plants have been identified on the island: twice as many as in other Arctic tundra areas of similar size.
There are also deer on Wrangel Island, which the first polar explorers brought, counting on them as a vehicle. Alas, the "transport" soon scattered around the surroundings and took root - the climate for these animals was just right. Then the breeding herds were put in order, and a branch of a reindeer-breeding state farm was opened in the village of Zvezdny. But after the creation of the reserve, the reindeer herders left the island. The animals are now on their own - there are about 1,500 animals.
Plus huge herds of walruses and seals. Still would! In fact, no one bothers them, and there is plenty of food - fish and shellfish. Live - I don't want to!
Dawn of the Polar Circle
Wrangel Island has its own mysteries.
The first one is connected with its longtime inhabitants - lemmings. These variegated rodents have enough plant roots, which they get even under the snow. So: once every 4-5 years, when the summer is especially warm - by the standards of Wrangel Island - and a rich harvest of berries and mushrooms has time to ripen, the number of lemmings increases dramatically. And then tens of thousands of "extra" animals at the end of summer rush into the sea and swim until they drown.
Scientists have not yet found an explanation for this massive act of suicide. One of the versions: like on the mainland, lemmings are trying to make a seasonal migration in search of food. It turns out that the instinct laid down thousands of years ago is triggered? Then, it turns out that lemmings once lived on the mainland, and then Wrangel Island broke away from it, and the animals went to drift in the ocean? It may well be that in ancient times the Eurasian and North American continents were a single whole. The following fact also speaks in favor of this version: only on Wrangel Island species of flora and fauna inherent in both continents at once have survived.
The second riddle was thrown by the rose gull. For its unusual color, this cute bird is also called the "Dawn of the Arctic Circle". She narrowly escaped complete extermination: at one time it was fashionable to decorate interiors with her stuffed animals. The seagull was not even saved from certain death by being listed in the Red Book,”but rather by its nomadic way of life in remote areas. However, with its "movements" the bird has puzzled not only hunters, but also scientists. Unlike all other northern birds, the rose gull does not fly to the south to winter, but to the north - it also flies to Wrangel Island. Why? Riddle. And I think there are still a lot of them on the island. After all, this is one of the few places on Earth that are still very little studied.
The main thing is to be very careful in solving local puzzles: a unique piece of land in the Arctic Ocean deserves it.
Oleg NIKOLAEV