World Heritage Identification Number: 1023
World Heritage since: 2004
Category: Natural Heritage
WHE Type: Natural Landscapes & Geographic Features
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇷🇺 Russian Federation
Continent: Europe
UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America
Map
Wrangel Island Reserve: A Biodiverse Arctic Treasure
The **Natural System of Wrangel Island Reserve**, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, is a unique and significant ecological haven situated within the Arctic Circle. Comprising the 7,608 square kilometer Wrangel Island, the smaller Herald Island (11 km²), and surrounding waters, it offers an exceptional display of biodiversity seldom found in such a remote and extreme climate.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
Located well above the Arctic Circle, the site includes the mountainous Wrangel Island (7,608 km2), Herald Island (11 km2) and surrounding waters. Wrangel was not glaciated during the Quaternary Ice Age, resulting in exceptionally high levels of biodiversity for this region. The island boasts the world’s largest population of Pacific walrus and the highest density of ancestral polar bear dens. It is a major feeding ground for the grey whale migrating from Mexico and the northernmost nesting ground for 100 migratory bird species, many endangered. Currently, 417 species and subspecies of vascular plants have been identified on the island, double that of any other Arctic tundra territory of comparable size and more than any other Arctic island. Some species are derivative of widespread continental forms, others are the result of recent hybridization, and 23 are endemic.
Encyclopedia Record: Wrangel Island
Wrangel Island is an island of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is the 92nd-largest island in the world and roughly the size of Crete. Located in the Arctic Ocean between the Chukchi Sea and East Siberian Sea, the island lies astride the 180th meridian. The International Date Line is therefore displaced eastwards at this latitude to keep the island, as well as the Chukchi Peninsula on the Russian mainland, on the same day as the rest of Russia. The closest land to Wrangel Island is the tiny and rocky Herald Island located 60 kilometres (32 nmi) to the east. Its straddling the 180th meridian makes its north shore at that point both the northeasternmost and northwesternmost point of land in the world by strict longitude; using the International Date Line instead, those respective points become Herald Island and Alaska's Cape Lisburne.Additional Site Details
Area: 1,916,300 hectares
Number of Components: 1
(x) — Contains most important habitats for biodiversity
Coordinates: 71.18888889 , -179.7152778
IUCN World Heritage Outlook
The 2025 Conservation Outlook on Natural System of Wrangel Island Reserve reports the following assessment:
Source: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) · View assessment
Image
© Виталий Дворяченко, CC BY-SA 4.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
