Dogs in the Chernobyl exclusion zone

A dog in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, 2013

On April 25, 1986, a safety test was conducted on Chernobyl's Unit 4 reactor during a planned maintenance shutdown. Operators attempted to determine whether slowing the turbine could provide enough power to cool the reactor in the event of an outage. Miscommunication between the test engineers and plant safety staff led to the reactor operating under unstable conditions. The resulting power surge caused fuel damage, steam buildup, and two explosions early on April 26—one from steam pressure and another likely from the buildup of hydrogen. The blasts ignited fires and released radioactive material into the atmosphere, prompting the evacuation of nearby residents within a 30-kilometer zone that later became known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

After the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, the regional domestic dog population suffered from environmental pollution originating from the radiation. This disaster made the environment highly mutagenic, leading to various evolutionary processes including, but not limited to, bottlenecks, directional selection, and higher rates of mutation resulting in evolutionary trajectories that differ from unexposed animals.

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