Franz Josef Land and snow bunting. Some ivory gulls, little auks and Brünnich's guillemots opt to spend the winter on the islands. The polar bear population of Franz Josef Land lies within the Barents Sea subpopulation, which also includes polar bears inhabiting Svalbard and the western coast of Novaya Zemlya. In 2004, the Barents Sea subpopulation was estimated at 2,650. There is also a population of Arctic fox, which typically have their territories near seabird habitats. Being declared as a marine mammal sanctuary, the island has rich biodiversity of rare marine mammals. Three species of seals habit the archipelago. Harp seal is the
Novaya Zemlya left a hundred dead and wounded. Whether the attack on Menshikov’s battery occurred on Dikson Island or on Novaya Zemlya, Stajner’s account illuminated the fate of a Soviet officer imprisoned by his countrymen for the “crime” of suffering defeat at the hands of the enemy. Not surprisingly, Menshikov’s arrest was never announced in the Soviet press. In August 1943, a German U-boat sank the Soviet research ship "Akademic Shokalskiy" near "Mys Sporyy Navolok", but the Soviet Navy, now on the offensive, destroyed the German submarine U-639 near "Mys Zhelaniya". In July 1954, Novaya Zemlya was designated the Novaya Zemlya Test