Nearly 40 years ago, the world's worst nuclear disaster turned the Ukrainian city of Pripyat and its nearby power plant, Chernobyl, into a radioactive hot zone – and surprisingly, decades later, a haven for wildlife.
Wolves, wild horses, birds, bison, elk, frogs, and dogs roam among the decaying concrete buildings and surrounding forests of what is now essentially one of Europe's largest nature reserves. Where humans fled,A new genetic analysis conducted by an international team of researchers on the region's canine clans could provide a foundation for learning just how the contamination dusting the landscape may have affected their DNA through the generations.
By characterizing distinct populations of dogs that live in and around Chernobyl, this latest genetics study provides a better basis for comparing changes in the species. Large mammals such as dogs and horses are of particular interest because the effects on their health could enlighten us as to what might happen when humans eventually return., which extends some 2,600 square kilometers around the ruinous power plant.
More than 800 dogs are estimated to be living in and around Chernobyl, often fed by power plant workers who return to maintain the facility. They exist in three distinct populations, though this new analysis revealed a surprising amount of genetic overlap and kinship ties between them. Spatola, Mousseau, and colleagues identified three main family groups amongst the Chernobyl dogs, with the largest one spanning all three geographical areas where the samples were collected.
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