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Something Strange Is Happening to the Wolves of Chernobyl

Forty years after the disaster, wolves inside the exclusion zone appear to be thriving, and scientists think their DNA may help explain why.

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Forty years ago this week, a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, irradiated a massive swath of Ukraine and Belarus, and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people. The land has been largely off-limits ever since. And in the absence of humans, the wildlife moved in and made itself at home.

Among them, gray wolves have done particularly well. Suspiciously well, actually. A 2015 census of animal populations in the zone found that elk, roe deer, red deer, and wild boar were present in numbers roughly comparable to uncontaminated nature reserves nearby. Wolf abundance was more than seven times higher.

Now researchers think they might know........

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