The radiation did not affect the wildlife as expected.
Expeditions of Western researchers regularly visit the closed zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. They observe the local flora and fauna, see how the radiation affected the natural environment, and try to understand what happened to the animals and plants that survived the "nuclear war" - this is how Komsomolskaya Pravda began its report, in which the latest and all he wrote about more astonishing discoveries than before.
American scientists from New York University were recently surprised by nematodes (Oschieus tipulae) found in the zone. These worms are completely unaffected by radiation, neither weak nor strong. It's like it doesn't exist. But there is.
So the worms have literally become immune to radiation.
Biologists led by Sophia Tintori looked for damage in the worms' DNA that usually occurs as a result of radiation exposure. And they didn't find one. There was no trace of mutation in their genome.
Scientists do not know how to explain the incredible resistance of nematodes, since generations of worms have been resistant to radiation since 1986.
Perhaps evolution played a role and the worms somehow developed a “superpower” that helped them survive in a highly mutagenic environment. Or are they naturally immune to the effects of ionizing radiation? Or is radiation not as harmful as we think? Mystery…
Princeton University biologists have already established that the immune system of Chernobyl wolves provides increased resistance against cancer.
In the zone, they are exposed to an average of more than six times the maximum safe level established for humans. This should cause pathological changes, in comparison it seems that they quickly got used to it, and in some ways it worked to their advantage.
In 2014, an international research team of French, Belgian, Japanese and American scientists - led by evolutionary ecologist Timothy A. Mousseau, professor at the Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina - found that the high birds that settle in radiation-laden areas have more antioxidants in their bodies, which protect them from radiation.
Meanwhile, the portal freely notes, the Chernobyl frogs have become "negroes".
A group of Spanish biologists from the University of Oviedo, led by Germán Orizaola, found an unprecedented number of unusually black tree frogs - kwakas - in the vicinity of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. These tailless amphibians, bright green in nature, have literally turned black.
They caught about 200 kwaks in various shades of black in the marshes near Chernobyl.
They found out that the darkest frogs live near the nuclear power plant. The closer they are, the darker they are. The frogs that lived in the areas most affected by the 1986 accident - heavily contaminated with radioactive materials released during the explosion - were also black.
The frogs changed their color by mutation. They have learned to produce melanin, which can protect the skin not only from ultraviolet radiation, but also from ionizing radiation. Strange as it may seem, this could even mean that black people may be more resistant to radiation.
By surviving and reproducing in the most contaminated areas of the Chernobyl zone, black-skinned frogs proved that their mutation is useful, does not require much effort to maintain, and increases the chances of survival and survival of their species, according to the article, which summarizes the results of the study published in the journal Evolutionary Applications. sums it up.
Cover image: The abandoned city of Pripyat overgrown with trees and weeds in 2009, the Chernobyl power plant and the sarcophagus in the background on the right
Source: Matti Paavonen/commons.wikimedia.org
