For generations of dogs, home is the radioactive remains of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
That could have implications for other nuclear disasters and even human space travel, says Timothy Mousseau, an evolutionary ecologist at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. “We have high hopes that what we learn from these dogs … will be of use for understanding human exposures in the future,” he says.
He first encountered Chernobyl’s semi-feral dogs in 2017, on a trip with the Clean Futures Fund+, an organization that provides veterinary care to the animals. Not much is known about how local dogs survived after the nuclear accident. In 1986, an explosion at one of the power plant’s reactors kicked off a disaster that lofted vast amounts of radioactive isotopes into the air.
Some Chernobyl dogs live outside of a structure built to contain radioactivity from the 1986 explosion of a reactor at the site.During Mousseau’s visits, his team collected blood samples from these dogs for DNA analysis, which let the researchers map out the dogs’ complex family structures. “We know who’s related to who,” says Elaine Ostrander, a geneticist at the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Md. “We know their heritage.
Dogs within the exclusion zone share ancestry with German shepherds and other shepherd breeds, like many other free-breeding dogs from Eastern Europe, the team reports. And though their work revealed that dogs in the power plant area look genetically different from dogs in Chernobyl City, about 15 kilometers away, the team does not know whether radiation caused these differences or not, Ostrander says.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster Created Genetically Mutant DogsThe dogs’ blood contained an incredibly rare opportunity: a glimpse into how life prevails even under unnaturally harsh conditions.
Read more »
PG&E can keep operating Diablo Canyon — at least for now, feds sayPG&E cleared a major hurdle today in its bid to operate the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant beyond 2025. Sammy_Roth reports:
Read more »
Diablo Canyon nuclear plant cleared to operate past 2025Pacific Gas & Electric can continue to operate the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant past its scheduled closing date in 2025, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled Thursday, a significant decision aimed at ensuring grid reliability in California.
Read more »
Feds 'Cave to PG\u0026E,' Allowing California Nuclear Plant to Keep Operating Sans Safety Review'This is an ominous warning sign for how independent the NRC will be in evaluating the earthquake risk and the overall operational integrity of the DiabloCanyon reactors,' says foe_us legal director Hallie Templeton.
Read more »