Wild animals returned to Chernobyl
It seems that people are worse than nuclear disaster, as regards their impact on nature.
Removal of people around the destroyed nuclear reactor at Chernobyl, allowed wildlife to return to the region, according to a new international scientific research.
In fact, scientists believe that eventually the animal populations are much larger than they were before the nuclear accident of 1986, which tends to transform the area from a place of destruction in a natural animal shelter!
The researchers, led by Professor Jim Smith of the British University of Portsmouth, who made the relevant publication on the biology journal "Current Biology", however, pointed out that "it does not mean that radioactivity is good for animals.
It just shows that the effects of human activities such as agriculture, hunting and forestry, is much worse. "
Scientists examined data from land and air on the presence of animals around the reactor, such as deer, wild boar, etc. wolves
As said Smith, "the number of wild animals we see in Chernobyl, is similar to those in game reserves not infected."
"Where people are removed, nature flourishes - even after the worst nuclear accident in the world," he added.
Remarkable is in particular the number of wolves, which is seven times as compared with a nearby same size shelter.
Scientists attributed this to the fact that now no one chases wolves around Chernobyl. More broadly, the resurgence of populations of wildlife already started a few years after the accident.
An exclusion zone length of about 30 km around today an area of 4,200 square kilometers at Chernobyl, from which all displaced 116,000 residents.
The new study focused on large mammals and did not examine the populations of smaller animals, birds and insects. Also not studied the health or reproduction of large animals.
Scientists, however, it appears likely that a similar "total reset" of animals will take place around the also damaged the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.
It seems that people are worse than nuclear disaster, as regards their impact on nature.
Removal of people around the destroyed nuclear reactor at Chernobyl, allowed wildlife to return to the region, according to a new international scientific research.
In fact, scientists believe that eventually the animal populations are much larger than they were before the nuclear accident of 1986, which tends to transform the area from a place of destruction in a natural animal shelter!
The researchers, led by Professor Jim Smith of the British University of Portsmouth, who made the relevant publication on the biology journal "Current Biology", however, pointed out that "it does not mean that radioactivity is good for animals.
It just shows that the effects of human activities such as agriculture, hunting and forestry, is much worse. "
Scientists examined data from land and air on the presence of animals around the reactor, such as deer, wild boar, etc. wolves
As said Smith, "the number of wild animals we see in Chernobyl, is similar to those in game reserves not infected."
"Where people are removed, nature flourishes - even after the worst nuclear accident in the world," he added.
Remarkable is in particular the number of wolves, which is seven times as compared with a nearby same size shelter.
Scientists attributed this to the fact that now no one chases wolves around Chernobyl. More broadly, the resurgence of populations of wildlife already started a few years after the accident.
An exclusion zone length of about 30 km around today an area of 4,200 square kilometers at Chernobyl, from which all displaced 116,000 residents.
The new study focused on large mammals and did not examine the populations of smaller animals, birds and insects. Also not studied the health or reproduction of large animals.
Scientists, however, it appears likely that a similar "total reset" of animals will take place around the also damaged the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.