A remote Russian Arctic island in the Chukchi Sea, a UNESCO-listed refuge where woolly mammoths survived until 1700 BCE.
Geography
Wrangel Island lies astride the 180th meridian in the Chukchi Sea, north of the Chukotka Peninsula. The island is rugged tundra escaping the heaviest Pleistocene glaciation, giving it the highest biodiversity of any High Arctic land.
Mammoth Refuge
A dwarf population of woolly mammoths survived on Wrangel until about 1700 BCE, by far the latest known mammoth population. The species had been extinct elsewhere for several thousand years.
Wildlife
Wrangel hosts the largest polar bear denning concentration in Russia, with around 400 dens per year. Pacific walrus haul out by the tens of thousands in summer along its northern shores.
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Wrangel Island starts with W and ends with D. Browse other islands along the same letter.
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