River · Russia
Indigirka
The Indigirka flows through Yakutia in the far north-east of Siberia, one of the coldest places on Earth. It travels about 1 726 km from the mountains north to the icy East Siberian Sea.
Where is Indigirka?
The river starts here: Confluence of two headstreams in the Khalkan Range, Yakutia, Russia.
It ends in the East Siberian Sea (Arctic Ocean).
Countries on the river: Russia.
The story behind it
The Indigirka begins where two mountain streams meet in the Khalkan Range. Soon it passes the village of Oymyakon, where a temperature of −67.7 °C was measured in 1933. The river freezes in October and stays under ice until May or June. Further downstream lies Ust-Nera, the largest settlement on the river, where people search for gold. In the cold water live valuable whitefish such as muksun, omul and inconnu. Near the sea the Indigirka spreads out into a delta of about 5 500 square kilometres, where the remote village of Russkoye Ustye lies. The frozen ground of the region also keeps secrets from the Ice Age: beside a small stream in the Indigirka basin, people found two cave lion cubs, called Boris and Sparta. Sparta is about 28 000 years old and so well preserved that even her whiskers are still there.
Questions children ask
How long is the Indigirka?
The Indigirka is about 1 726 km long. If you count its longest headstream too, it measures almost 2 000 km.
When is the Indigirka frozen?
The river freezes in October and stays covered with ice until May or June. That means it is frozen for more than half of the year.
What was found in the frozen ground near the Indigirka?
In 2017 and 2018, two cave lion cubs from the Ice Age were found beside a small stream in the Indigirka basin. The cub called Sparta is about 28 000 years old and still has her whiskers.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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