Wolves, bears and lynx have rebounded in the radioactive landscape, along with a rare breed of horses native to Mongolia. Scientists say it shows nature’s ability to recover when human activity is removed.
Wolves, bears and lynx have rebounded in the radioactive landscape, along with a rare breed of horses native to Mongolia. Scientists say it shows nature’s ability to recover when human activity is removed.
26 Comments
ParadoxSeahorse@lemmy.world · 49 pts · 106d
Reassuring that the planet will be ok after
homes@piefed.world · 22 pts · 106d
aeronmelon@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 105d
If humanity dies because of what humans did, and the rest of nature manages to continue on, I posit that humans are not classified as life.
yakko@feddit.uk · 13 pts · 105d
This is a brave and hilarious take, you're wrong but I'm giving you points for style
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de · 11 pts · 105d
I mean, there are probably a ton of species that led to their own demise. The great oxygenation comes to my mind, but I bet there are many smaller events as well.
Schmoo@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 105d
Plenty of species self-destruct. The difference with humans is that we're aware of our own self-destruction and are continuing it anyway.
NotEasyBeingGreen@slrpnk.net · 24 pts · 105d
My understanding was that radiation was harmful to wildlife, but less harmful than humans. So not exactly uplifting....
quickenparalysespunk@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 13 pts · 105d
THIS!
some people blindly react to everything "nature" or "non-humans" as purely good...
without thinking that maybe the animals moving to Chernobyl area might not be living their best lives, because the human-generated radiation is still there...
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 105d
its barely negligible apparently. the only danger is the red forest, and truffle,fungi that grow that which hyperaccumulates the radioisoptopes, they found the wild boars had hight amounts of those isotopes, they couldnt figuer it out until they found them eating the fungi.
prex@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 80d
Hope those boars don't shit radiation everywhere.
Edit: Still pretty cool information, thanks.
Cethin@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 105d
Really, the risk of radiation is pretty damn low. There are some hot spots, and maybe you'd find a hot piece of material (probably not) but it's mostly just wilderness that has restricted access. It's not dangerously radioactive. Even in Pripyt it's mostly fine. You can even get close to the destroyed reactor and be OK. Keep in mind, the last reactor at Chernobyl only stopped operating in 2000.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 17 pts · 105d
there are spots on this planet with naturally high radiation levels similar to Chernobyl area. The threat is really to longer lived creatures like humans.
shiv@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 105d
Reminds me of the 38th parallel in between North/South Korea. There has been a resurgence of rare wildlife there because no humans fuck with it.
Edit: here is an article about it
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/21/north-south-korea-war-demilitarised-zone-dmz-ecology-endangered-wildlife-aoe
"The landmines are doing more for conservation than anyone..." Kim Seung-ho
Pictured: the threatened asianic black bear.
NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 105d
Soon, Deathclaws, soon…
yum_burnt_toast@reddthat.com · 9 pts · 105d
if anyone is interested in more stories like this i definitely recommend reading "islands of abandonment" by cal flyn, which also has a chapter on chernobyl. stories of natural recovery in areas that humans no longer occupy.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 8 pts · 105d
its the same with the DMZ in korea, the area where its heavily mined and forbidden to enter tigers, and other animals thrived there.
zabadoh@ani.social · 3 pts · 105d
Humans demand a higher quality of life than animals.
We don't get to see the bears, wolves, horses etc prematurely dying of cancer and mutations, but presumably their ability to reproduce happens before the radiation and mutations overcome their bodies.
LePoisson@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 105d
Good ole fashioned evolution baby
qkall@friendica.world · 3 pts · 105d
@FTonsilStones we're all just biding time for the trees
skoell13@feddit.org · 1 pts · 105d
Interesting video regarding the topic: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j4OKo0VpoeM
t_berium@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 105d
Beware of the Snorks, though
Malyca@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 105d
I wonder if those are those horses that were thought to be extinct, but it turned out they're still around.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 105d
those are descended from domesticated horses(botai horses which is seperate from the current well know horses) not a true wild species, WIld horse species are pratically extinct since the last ice age, and they evolved in north america. other equine species do still exist like oangers, and zebras. its the prewelzakis horse.
ygurin@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 105d
Saw a huge Moose in Chernobyl once...
Teppichbrand@feddit.org · 2 pts · 105d
Everyone should! Let's all book trips to the place with no humans and look at it, so we can take pictures and tell more people about it. It's so calming and relaxing, we should go there more often. Maybe someone could sell some merch...
ygurin@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 105d
Honestly that is exacting how it went down, we all got handheld Geiger meters. On the entrance checkpoint there was a bunch of stalker (the game) merch.
The Chernobyl tours are an actual thing. You don't get to wonder by yourself though, for obvious reasons. But you do get to see nature reclaiming the city.
https://www.chernobyl-tour.com/english/