Animals return to Chernobyl

In 1986, a catastrophic accident occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. The explosion and fire in the power plant released radioactive particles into the atmosphere that spread in western USSR and Europe. After 30 years, the Cell Press journal Current Biology reported on October 5, 2015 that animals like elk, roe deer, red deer, wild boar, and wolves have returned to the Chernobyl site.

Jim Smith, co-author of the article said that this doesn't mean that the radiation is harmless.

"It's very likely that wildlife numbers at Chernobyl are much higher than they were before the accident," said Smith "This doesn't mean radiation is good for wildlife, just that the effects of human habitation, including hunting, farming, and forestry, are a lot worse."

Previous studies showed that the radiation effects in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone reduced wildlife populations. The new evidence, based on long-term census data, showed that mammals have returned in the area.

The team found that elk, red deer, roe deer and wild boar numbers were similar in the exclusion zone to the numbers found in uncontaminated nature reserves. Elk and roe deer numbers have been increasing consistently since 1987, with roe deer numbers increasing tenfold in the period between 1987 and 1996. While wolf populations in the exclusion zone are seven times higher than wolf populations in uncontaminated nature reserves. This could be attributed to the lack of human hunters.

The increasing wolf population shows that the ecosystem is reach. If the predator population is healthy, it means that the prey population is healthy too. This makes the wolves a good indicator for the overall health of the Chernobyl ecosystem.

"These results demonstrate for the first time that, regardless of potential radiation effects on individual animals, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone supports an abundant mammal community after nearly three decades of chronic radiation exposure," the researchers said.

"I've been working, studying, and taking photos of the wonderful wildlife in the Chernobyl area for over 20 years and am very pleased our work is reaching an international scientific audience," says Tatiana Deryabina from the Polessye State Radioecological Reserve in Belarus, a few miles from the site of the Chernobyl accident.

"These unique data showing a wide range of animals thriving within miles of a major nuclear accident illustrate the resilience of wildlife populations when freed from the pressures of human habitation," says Jim Beasley, a study co-author.

"These results demonstrate for the first time that, regardless of potential radiation effects on individual animals, the Chernobyl exclusion zone supports an abundant mammal community after nearly three decades of chronic radiation exposures," the paper's abstract says.

Animal survey in the Chernobyl exclusion zone continues. In the last few years, the TREE consortium, which assisted in this research, set up webcams in the exclusion zone to observe the wildlife. So far, the cameras have captured images of elk, lynxes, wolves, hares, otters, pine martens, horses, weasels and the first confirmed sighting of a brown bear in the Ukrainian Chernobyl exclusion zone. Next year, the Tree Consortium plans to put tracking collars to selected animals to closer observe them.