Chukchi hunters
butcher a gray whale on
the shore near Lorino,
Russia. The meat will
be distributed to the
community. Hunting
has seen the Chukchi
through many hard
times, including the
collapse of the Soviet
Union when shops were
bare. “Even [ethnic]
Russians began to eat
marine mammals,” says
Eduard Ryphyrgin. But
the quarry may soon
be gone as the crucial
edge of coastal ice that
forms in winter dimin-
ishes because of climate
change. “Animals that
we eat need this edge,”
Ryphyrgin says. “We
need this edge.”