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Short Wave

Wolves Are Thriving In The Radioactive Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 β€’ 6K Ratings

πŸ—“οΈ 5 February 2024

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

In 1986 the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, releasing radioactive material into northern Ukraine and Belarus. It was the most serious nuclear accident in history. Over one hundred thousand people were evacuated from the surrounding area. But local gray wolves never left β€” and their population has grown over the years. It's seven times denser than populations in protected lands elsewhere in Belarus. This fact has led scientists to wonder whether the wolves are genetically either resistant or resilient to cancer β€” or if the wolves are simply thriving because humans aren't interfering with them.

This episode, researchers Shane Campbell-Staton and Cara Love talk through what might be causing this population boom. Plus, why researchers in the field of human cancer are eager to collaborate with them.

Want to hear about other ways humans are impacting the planet? Email us at [email protected].

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Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:17.0

You're listening to shortwave from NPR.

0:23.0

If you go to Pripyat or other small towns in Northern Ukraine in Belarus, you'll find them empty.

0:31.0

They're ghost towns, and they have been since 1986 when a reactor exploded at the

0:36.2

Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It released over a hundred thousand pounds of

0:40.8

radioactive material into the atmosphere and that dispersed really all across Europe and the USSR at the time.

0:48.0

That's Carol Love. She's a biologist and postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University.

0:53.0

She told me the most heavily contaminated area is right around the reactor.

0:58.0

That whole region was evacuated by all the human inhabitants.

1:03.3

Over 100,000 people from over 200 different villages.

1:07.1

And that's what we reference to as the CEZ.

1:09.2

Or the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

1:11.6

Care has been to the Belarus portion of the Exclusion Zone for research.

1:16.3

When she went, she had a wear dosimeter to monitor the radiation exposure and to make sure

1:20.9

she didn't go anywhere too radioactive.

1:23.0

So I'm mostly in smaller abandoned towns.

1:29.0

Villages that still have cars in the driveways or they still have books on the bookshelves within the homes.

1:37.3

There are still shoes near the front doors.

1:39.8

When people were evacuated, a lot of them were told they could come back.

1:43.8

Most of their belongings are untouched.

1:46.4

But now, the vines are crawling through the windows.

...

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