Living amid the fallout of the world’s worst nuclear disaster may not seem like a sensible lifestyle choice, but the dogs of Chernobyl may have evolved to make it work, a study suggests.
cientists have found that strays living in the exclusion zone of the 1986 Ukrainian disaster have developed distinct DNA and behaviour.
Since the nuclear catastrophe happened at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the area surrounding it has largely been abandoned by humans.
But although radioactive contamination devastated wildlife populations there, some animals survived and continued to breed – including feral dogs, some of whom may have descended from domestic pets.
The team found that the strays had formed packs, like wild dogs and wolves, but the groups were living close together, a behaviour not seen in undomesticated animals.
The dogs have been monitored by the Chernobyl Dog Research Initiative since 2017, and a new study of blood samples taken by the project team has shown that the animals were genetically different from other canines.
The team is planning to study the new genetic traits to see if any of the mutations are helping them to survive in the radiation zone.
Discovering how mammals evolve to live in harsh radiation environments could bring vital insights into how to prevent cancer in humans, or shield astronauts in space’s deadly radioactive environment.
Dr Elaine Ostrande, chief of the cancer genetics and comparative genomics branch of the National Human Genome Research at the National Institutes of Health, said: “We don’t yet know what, if any, genetic differences might allow dogs to survive in one versus another environment. Looking for changes in the DNA that have helped one versus the other population survive is the long-term goal of the study.”
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2023]