There's a new species taking over at Chernobyl

One thing is for sure, if the unthinkable happens, we'll all be living it for ourselves. So we'd best figure out what's going on and fast.

a reply to: NowWhat

Good video again not much real info but at least it is true that there is still high contamination, I just think it is not as widely spread as previously thought. I did see something that was a documentary involving those people who went back home shortly after leaving and I believe their cancer rates, on the whole, were not much different that any other place...probably from other horrible cancer causing things around the world.

originally posted by: deadeyedick
Jeremy Wade spent some time there.

Then there is this.

Found this but have not seen it.

So the first vid doesn't work,

the second looks to me like the moose is just looking left while running.

The third is a great video, I just watched it. It basically concludes that while the animals are all heavily radio active they show basically no signs of problems. Even the catfish in the extremely contaminated cooling ponds are growing like crazy, the eagles that eat them are fine. Even the test rats just outside the hottest zones show no problems, the door mice right in the hottest zones have a few offspring that are genetically different, or problemed but that is probably the normal rate of occurrence.

Basically the wildlife is thriving and the disaster has created an accidental nature preserve where many endangered species can live in peace. There are even toads living in the hot zones which are a first to die off in areas of pollution and contamination of other types!

The wolf expert concluded that the wolf population in the contaminated zone is about the exact same size , health etc. of other nature preserves, not hugely inflated in size as locals have been reporting. Sounds pretty good to me! Now they had a Geiger counter and showed the very high contamination levels but they only suit up if they are digging in the soil, they also showed that bones of fish, moose, deer and wolves were extremely radioactive.

So what the he double hockey sticks does it MEAN? We can live and flourish with long term exposure to even extremely high does of radiation? Without offspring growing extra limbs etc.? I just do not get it.

a reply to: tiredoflooking

I am srry the first video does not work. Very glad you watched the others.

If you get a chance check out the river monsters special done by wade.

He goes in to a bit of what you question.

You get to see the different levels of radiation he was skipping around to get to the dam.

The catfish and many other fish can get away from the radiation by going deeper and unaffected areas.

While many areas are under the threshold and that is where the wildlife is thriving.

There are certain areas where if you go death would be imminent.

The animals are smart enough to keep away and those areas of serious contamination pale in comparison to the staked off areas that are off limits to people but under the radiation threshold

I believe animal planet has a site where they feature the river monsters and also I think the ghost adventures team went there and is a good watch itself.

river monsters

a reply to: deadeyedick

Thanks for the vids I will check out those others you linked.

I really feel like the animals and fish are going right into these zones...including sensitive species like toads. Those catfish are right in the cooling pools one of the most highly contaminated areas and going down into the soil which, according to them, is the worse place to be as that is where the worst contamination lies. There is no mention of animals/fish avoiding any areas -people even go right into the reactor- the animals seem to be all over the place. Maybe they cannot sense it?

I need to look into this more because it seems like there is just not enough "real" explanation, even about the studies that have been going on for years. Most things I have read and watched leave the answers to open ended for my liking. It's like they do not want to give an actual answer, even though it seems it may be a positive one. This may be because, they mentioned, the area is being studied closely to determine the aftereffects on people in nuclear attack situations. Therefore they do not really want to completely let the cat out of the bag.

I am going to do some research to see more about what information is really available to the public regarding the studies. I will come back and maybe make a new thread, depending on what there is. Thanks for your sources they can start me on my journey.

No humans or human activity is the causality for wildlife population growth.

However, the area is still radioactive. The River Monster video demonstrates there are fish there for example. The one he caught was half the size it should be for its age and had high radiation levels.

So while the populations may be growing, the individual animal health may not be the best.

Regardless, I am all for more wild areas. Just need my S.T.A.L.K.E.R. gear for hike

originally posted by: MysterX
Their reproductive systems, usually quite sensitive to environmental changes, are obviously unaffected to any large degree either...as they're breeding and multiplying quite readily and apparently normally. I'd imagine they will not make old bones though, and will probably die of cancers and so on at much younger ages than would be normal for their species.

According to the second video in this thread, animals around chernobyl are showing visible signs of radiation and examples are shown. The scientist doing the research suspects that the problems exhibited will make it difficult for the affected creatures to find mates, because they don't look quite right, so he suspects there is some breeding selection going on as a result of the radiation problems.

That thread didn't get much love but both those videos in it are very good.

a reply to: StoutBroux
Well that may be when they checked, but the even happened in 1986. Well, that most likely isn't enough to be considered a new species and may not even be uniform throughout. It would certainly be interesting to walk through those old neighborhoods.

a reply to: donktheclown

This is something that fascinates me. We were told that radiation would kill and cause mutations. However if you look at the citizens in both Negasaki and Hiroshima I don't tthink this is born out today I know we are talking about smaller amounts probably but it is curious.

If you look at Iraq where uranium tipped weapons were used the cases of cancer are horrific as well I understand (due to the sensitivity of this matter are the mutations). I wonder if you or anyone else has explanations or ideas about this? Its not a topic many like to wade through because of the tragedies involved.