These brown bears in Russia's far east have developed a habit of sniffing discarded barrels formerly filled with aviation fuel until they pass out.

The containers were left in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve and the nearby creatures picked on their strong smell of kerosene and gasoline.

The animals love this smell so much that they have begun deeply inhaling the fumes for minutes at a time before digging shallow holes for themselves to lie in once they've achieved their desired state.

These bears are suspected to be of the largest brown bears in the world, weighing 1,200 pounds. The fuel is used to power generators and helicopters used by nature reserve workers.

Photos were taken by Igor Shpilenok, 52, who spent seven months documenting this specific community of bears.

Igor said that some of the bears have become so addicted to these barrels that they stalk deporting helicopters, waiting for them to take off and leave drops of fuel into the hard soil for them to sniff.

Sean Levinson | Elite.