Could dogs be evolving to withstand nuclear radiation? That’s the question scientists seek to answer after studying the canines of Chernobyl, Ukraine.
Just 10 miles separate two packs – one around the former nuclear power plant’s reactors, whose 1986 explosion spewed 400 times more radioactive material into the environment than the Hiroshima bomb.
The other lives among the largely deserted city of Chernobyl, whose residents were evacuated along with 350,000 others from the surrounding areas.
People fled in such a rush, they left toys on shelves, science equipment on classroom tables, bumper cars paused – and even, in some cases, their pets.
Those abandoned dogs have found a way to not only survive in an area so toxic it’s deemed unsafe for human habitation – they have actually thrived.
Nearly 40 years later, their descendants appear to have ‘adapted to exposures faced over many generations’, according to a study published in the journal Canine Medicine and Genetics.
‘Somehow, two small populations of dogs managed to survive in that highly toxic environment’, said Norman J. Kleiman, an environmental health scientist at Columbia University.
He led the team of researchers who collected blood samples from 116 of the 900 ‘semi-feral’ dogs during sterilisation and vaccination procedures conducted by the Clean Futures Fund Dogs of Chernobyl program in 2018 and 2019.
(Picture: Getty Images)
‘In addition to classifying the population dynamics within these dogs’, he said, ‘we took the first steps towards understanding how chronic exposure to multiple environmental hazards may have impacted these populations.’
Radiation isn’t the only thing these dogs have had to contend with – they’ve also found a way to survive among chemicals left from the clean-up, extreme weather and limited food sources.
And they’re not the only ones. The 1,000 square mile Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has become something of a wildlife sanctuary due to the absence of humans.
Previous studies found more biodiversity and variety among species than before.
There are even two genetically distinct groups among the dog population, the latest study – the first to look into their genetic makeup – found.
But it is not clear whether the dogs’ resilience in one of the most radioactively contaminated places on earth is the result of ‘genetic drift’.
What is the Chernobyl disaster?
The Chernobyl disaster saw two massive explosions at a nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union) on April 25 and 26 in 1986.
The roof of one of the reactors blew off and 400 times more radiation than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima was released into the air.
Two workers died in the explosion and at least 28 more perished in the following months due to acute radiation exposure.
Over the years thousands of people who had worked or lived near the plant would show signs of ill health – including cancer.
The accident – which happened after a routine test – is seen as the worst nuclear disaster in history.
One of the study’s authors, Dr. Matthew Breen from NC State, said: ‘By teasing out whether or not the genetic changes we detected in these dogs are the canine genome’s response to the exposures the populations have faced, we may be able to understand how the dogs survived in such a hostile environment and what that might mean for any population — animal or human — that experiences similar exposures.’
They hope further research will reveal these answers.
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Despite it being illegal to live here, some 150 people have refused to leave the zone, and roughly 1,000 have returned to nearby Chernobyl city.
Some of the dogs have bonded with them, visitors and also scientists.
If further studies help experts understand how dogs evolve in such a toxic landscape, it could facilitate more people to return to homes long abandoned.
Armed with this knowledge, societies may have the chance to protect wildlife and people from future environmental disasters if and when they occur.
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