More than 35 years after the world's worst nuclear accident, the dogs of Chernobyl roam among the abandoned buildings in and around the closed plant - somehow they can still find food, reproduce and survive.
Scientists hope studying these dogs can teach people new skills on how to live in the harshest, most degraded environments..
Science Advances published the first of several genetic studies on Friday that reveals 302 stray dogs living in the so-called exclusion zone around the crash site.. Scientists have identified populations whose different levels of radiation exposure can genetically distinguish them from each other and other dogs around the world..
“We had this unique opportunity to lay the groundwork for answering an important question: How can you survive in such a hostile environment for 15 generations.? "
Her colleague Tim Musso, professor of biological sciences at the University of South Carolina, says dogs provide an incredible tool to study the impact of this type of environment on mammals in general..
The environment of Chernobyl is extremely hostile. On April 26, 1986, an explosion and fire at a Ukrainian nuclear power plant led to the release of radioactive fallout into the atmosphere.. Thirty people died immediately, and the death toll from radiation poisoning is estimated to be in the thousands..
Researchers say most of the dogs studied are descendants of domestic animals that residents were forced to abandon after being evacuated from the area..
Musso has been working in the Chernobyl region since the late 1990s and started collecting blood from dogs around 2017.. Some dogs live at the power plant, others are about 9 miles (15 kilometers) or 28 miles (45 kilometers) away..
At first, according to Ostrander, they believed the dogs had become so intermingled over time that they had become almost the same.. But with DNA, they could easily identify dogs living in areas of high, low, and moderate levels of radiation exposure..
“It was a huge milestone for us.. And, surprisingly, we can even identify families - about 15 different ones, ”says Ostrander.
Researchers can now start studying DNA changes.
“We can compare them and say: how do they differ, what has changed, what has evolved, what helps them, and what harms them at the DNA level,” Ostrander said..
The scientists said the study could have broad applications, providing insights into how animals and humans might live now and in the future in different parts of the world under continuous environmental influences, as well as in space environments with high levels of radiation..
Dr. Kari Eckenstedt, a veterinarian who teaches at Purdue University and was not involved in the study, believes this is a first step towards answering important questions about how persistent exposure to higher levels of radiation affects large mammals.. For example, according to her, it will be possible to find out whether this will change their genomes at a rapid pace..
Researchers have already started further research at the site about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from Kyiv.. Musso says he and his colleagues were last there in October last year and did not see any danger associated with the war.. Musso said the team bonded with some of the dogs, naming one Prancer. ), because she happily prances when she sees people.
“Despite the fact that they are wild, they still love to interact with people,” he said, “especially when it comes to food.”.
[see_also ids\u003d"
Ukraine, together with the UN, is also implementing a project to study the impact of radiation on biodiversity in the Chernobyl zone.
A group of scientists conducted research to determine how the flora and fauna have changed in the exclusion zone in Chernobyl. According to a report published in the scientific journal Current Biology, almost 30 years after the nuclear disaster, the exclusion zone has become a real nature reserve..
Previously, scientists have already stated that the body of some animals in the Chernobyl exclusion zone suppresses the negative effect of radiation on DNA by increasing the level of antioxidants..