In Novy Urengoy, authorities and volunteers began rescuing a flock of ducks that failed to migrate before freezing weather, after the birds lingered on Lake Molodezhny. Locals also recalled a recently rescued mute swan now recovering en route to a rehabilitation center in Tyumen Oblast.

Pipes are built over bulging and unstable Arctic pingos prone to violent eruptions caused by 'thawing methane gas', as seen twice on the Yamal peninsula this year.

A mysterious anthrax outbreak over the summer killed more than 2,300 reindeer and at least one child.