Science & Technology

Chernobyl's mutant wolves have developed a resistance to cancer

By T.K. Randall
February 18, 2024 ·  4 comments

Wolves are thriving around Chernobyl. Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Ronnie Macdonald On April 26th, 1986, the catastrophic accident that befell the No. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukraine would not only expose thousands of people to dangerous levels of radiation, but also leave the whole area uninhabitable for thousands of years.

The incident would go on to become ingrained in popular culture, not only as one of the worst disasters of the modern age but also as a symbol of the dangers of nuclear power.

Photographs of the abandoned city of Pripyat - complete with its dilapidated tower blocks and empty Ferris wheel - have become synonymous with the disaster and its impact on the surrounding area.

But while humans have stayed away, the local wildlife seems to have been doing surprisingly well.

Now according to a new study, grey wolves that have made the area around the nuclear reactor their home seem to have developed adaptations enabling them to thrive despite the radiation exposure.To find out more, evolutionary biologist and ecotoxicologist Dr Cara Love of Princeton University attached radio collars to some of the wolves to learn about their movements.

The findings suggested that the wolves are exposed to over six times the legal radiation safety limit for a human every day of their lives.

What's more, the animals appear to have altered immune systems similar to what might be found in a human undergoing radiation treatment.

Dr Love also discovered that parts of the wolves' genetic information was particularly resilient to cancer.

This is important because studying such protective mutations could one day help scientists develop preventative treatments in humans.

Source: Sky News | Comments (4)

Tags: Chernobyl