RIGHT
The Zimovs believe
that large grazing ani-
mals helped maintain
rich Arctic grasslands
during the Ice Age,
in part by fertilizing
the grass. In hopes of
bringing back the dry
steppe—and also slow-
ing permafrost thaw—
they are now importing
wild horses and other
grazers to a site along a
tributary of the Kolyma
River. They call it Pleis-
tocene Park.
BELOW
Nikolai and Svetlana
Yaglovsky, an indige-
nous couple, still make
a living hunting and
fishing on the Kolyma
near Cherskiy. Some of
their neighbors have
been forced to move
into town; thawing per-
mafrost is undermining
riverfront houses and
making the landscape
harder to navigate.
90 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC