The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has become the largest industrial disaster in modern human history. One mistake cost the lives of tens of thousands of people, while a terrible scar appeared on the planet's body, which is still growing. The territory near the station, not to mention Pripyat, remains an exclusion zone. Until recently, it was believed that normal flora and fauna would not appear here for a long time, but recent studies have brought an extremely unexpected result - nature takes its toll at an alarming rate.
Project idea
Scientists from the UK have launched a project to study how the planet is rebuilding after such a terrible disaster. In particular, the researchers were interested in the state of the local flora and fauna: it is important to understand how long it takes for nature to return to the correct path of development.
Beasts from the past
The very first field studies showed an amazing picture: in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, not only the population of endemic animals practically recovered, but also several species appeared that were considered extinct more than a century ago.
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Worse than war
We have to admit that a person destroys the world around him much more effectively than some kind of nuclear explosion and subsequent radiation contamination. Over the past thirty years, the number of animals in the exclusion zone has increased significantly.
Wild life
On the side of the Ukrainian territory, scientists installed 45 cameras, the data from which made it possible to understand the true size of the population of local fauna. The forests of Chernobyl resemble a pastoral picture from a biology textbook: wild boars, wolves, roe deer and foxes feel absolutely great here.
Atomic reserve
And also rare animals have not been seen in this area for a long time. European lynx, brown bear, bison and even Przewalski's horses - radiation may not be a good thing, but you know what? It affects nature much better than man. We can say that we are worse than a nuclear war for the flora and fauna of our planet.