
Wildlife thriving in abandoned Chernobyl zone - tlogan
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/1011/Wildlife-thriving-in-abandoned-Chernobyl-zone
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ommunist
I spent two field seasons there in 1994-95. No deformities been found in
mammals, whatsoever. We were not in Zone 3, however. But in Zone 2 (80-120
Ci/sq.km.)wildlife happily forgot what is the Homo Sapience thing, and just
enjoyed life. Plant seeds and some fungi however showed stable high levels of
Cs and Sr radioisotopes contamination. Which meant you could safely eat apples
there, but dig down deep the remains of the fruits.

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gus_massa
IANAB. It's strange that the seeds have more radioactivity than the pulp. Do
you know the explanation?

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ommunist
Nothing strange. Cs 137 replaces potassium in meristemae, also in coleorhiza,
radicle, and other parts of the seed .

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gus_massa
The part that I think is strange is that it doesn't also replace potassium in
the pulp. (Does the pulp have more water and less potassium?)

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ommunist
Germination tissues have specific molecular structures based on potassium, and
pulp is made from lipids and pectines, basically carbs.

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bewo001
I've seen a documentation where it was stated that some species indeed thrive,
but others don't have viable offsprings when breeding there. The birds you see
there are all immigrants from less contaminated areas.

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alfapla
This canard keeps popping up with such regularity that one start to wonder
what kind of interest group is spinning this. The space around Chernobyl is
still a dead zone. The only reason why animal life doesn't die out there is
the permanent inflow of healthy animals from outside contaminated area.

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bytesandbots
Open wildlife might be more accepting of any mutations(deformities) in wild
animals than humans. Some study might be needed on the mortality rate of those
animals or if any deformities occurred.

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collyw
What is the CS monitor site? I have seen it before, and dismissed it due to
the name (science and christianity often seem at odds).

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dang
Url changed from [http://www.sciencerecorder.com/news/2015/10/11/without-
human...](http://www.sciencerecorder.com/news/2015/10/11/without-humans-
wildlife-flourishes-chernobyl-radioactive-zone/), which points to this.

