Polar bears take over Soviet-era abandoned research center in Arctic: Watch

Polar bears have taken over a former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) era abandoned polar research center in the Arctic.

The new inhabitants of the research center located on Kolyuchin Island in Chukchi Sea, in Russia’s far north east was recently filmed by a travel blogger, Vadim Makhorov.

Makhorov used drone cameras to film the movement of polar bears as they roamed in and out of the facility’s scattered buildings.

The travel blogger, boasting over 161k followers on Instagram, told Reuters, “I think they see these houses as shelter from the wind, rain and other things. In general, they get along fine there.”

Taking to Instagram, Makhorov shared a video of the bear in the research facility and cleared the air regarding questions about the video being AI generated.

He wrote, “I don't use AI in my travel photos. I don't think that would be fair. Such shots are taken from a drone. I try hard not to annoy animals. If I see that a bear is afraid of a drone, I don't chase it, take the drone away and never fly up.”

The blogger continued: “But this rarely happens, because I fly to the animals very slowly, allowing them to get used to an unusual guest. Most often, the bears themselves are interested in the drone and follow it.”

The research facility was a weather station and small village that was abruptly abandoned after the Soviet Union's collapse in December 1991.