Chernobyl wildlife is thriving in a world without humans
In the shadow of the world's worst nuclear disaster, wolf populations have swelled to seven times the density of nearby nature reserves, proving that human presence is deadlier than radiation.
Forty years after the reactor at Chernobyl released five thousand petabecquerels of radiation, the exclusion zone has transformed into an accidental Eden. Without humans to hunt them or pave over their habitats, large mammals like bison and lynx have reclaimed the ruins. While radiation levels remain high enough to kill a human in certain hotspots, the local wolf packs are thriving at densities seven times higher than those in non-contaminated forests nearby.
There's more to this story — open the app to keep reading.
Continue Reading in App
1 more paragraphs · plus a 2-question quiz