Amderma, RussiaThe Russian biologists were already on their third round of vodka shots over a dinner of canned reindeer meat, buckwheat, and pickles when a neighbor ran in and shouted, “bear!”

Old Soviet forks clattered against plates as the group of scientists all stood at the same time and rushed out of the tiny kitchen in the Sea View, a grandly named hotel in the almost completely abandoned town of Amderma on the shore of the Kara Sea. “The polar bear is by the school!” the young woman yelled again, as the men got dressed in a chaotic jumble of boots, gloves, coats, and hats.

Sergey Naidenko and Yevgeny Ivanov ran into their room and grabbed a lightweight German gas rifle. Yevgeny tucked