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Wild Cam: Wildlife abundant inChernobyl Exclusion ZoneBy Dana Kobilinsky

Posted on April 29, 2016 // 0 Comments

A pack of wolves visit a scent station on the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. ©National Geographic/JimBeasley/Sarah Webster

Wildlife researchers drove through the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, which, 30 years ago,witnessed the world’s worst nuclear accident. They passed abandoned houses, many of whichstill had family photos hanging forlornly on the walls.

The researchers — including James Beasley who last year coauthored a study on the impact ofradiation on Chernobyl’s wildlife — were out to track wildlife through camera traps in theChernobyl Exclusion Zone. “We tried to build upon our earlier work using a slightly moremodern technique and something highly visual so that everyone can see these images,” saidBeasley, a member of The Wildlife Society and senior author of a new study, which appeared inFrontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Our most recent Wild Cam photo essay featuressome of the photos collected during this study.

Raccoon Dog. ©National Geographic/Jim Beasley/Sarah Webster

Beasley and his team, including lead author and graduate student Sarah Webster, placedremote cameras every three kilometers throughout all of the accessible roads within theBelarus side of the exclusion zone. They put a fatty acid scent at the stations in order to attractcarnivores, which they primarily focused on for their research. “There’s very little published

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information on many carnivore species in the exclusion zone,” Beasley said, adding thatraccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) and wolves were most commonly observed.

Gray Wolves. ©National Geographic/Jim Beasley/Sarah Webster

 

Beasley and his team didn’t �nd any evidence to suggest animals were avoiding areas of highradiation contamination. Habitat characteristics were more likely to in�uence where theyfound the animals, he said. Beasley said he saw more evidence and signs of wolves in theexclusion zone than any other place he has ever visited.

The team collected enough camera trap data to develop models for four species including graywolves (Canis lupus), red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), raccoon dogs and the Eurasian boar (Susscrofa).

Eurasian boar. ©National Geographic/Jim Beasley/Sarah Webster

 

While Eurasian boars are not carnivores, they commonly visited the scent stations. Theresearchers found that Eurasian boars often traveled to the border of the exclusion zonewhere there’s an abundance of agriculture. “They commonly depredate crops in agricultural�elds and they were likely using the edge areas more frequently to exploit that agriculture,”Beasley said. However, the team also found the boars in the most contaminated areas as well.“Radiation didn’t in�uence where we found them,” he said. “These data help to reinforce thatprevious study: Habitat is driving where we �nd these animals, not radiation.”

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Eurasian Bison. ©National Geographic/Jim Beasley/Sarah Webster

 

Most wildlife in the exclusion zone are not managed since they are self-sustaining populations.However, the area is also home to some species of conservation concern such as the Eurasianbison (Bison bonasus). “We did detect them, both driving around the zone and on our cameras,but they were introduced to the exclusion zone and they are managed,” Beasley said.

Other species introduced to the exclusion zone include Przewalski’s horses (Equus ferusprzewalskii), which are one of the most endangered mammals in the area. The researchersdidn’t detect them in their surveys, mainly because the surveys weren’t targeting them, but didobserve evidence of their presence while driving though the zone.

 

Red Deer. ©National Geographic/Jim Beasley/Sarah Webster

The team also detected other non-carnivores such as red deer (Cervus elaphus), which theyhad studied in their previous research. Here, a red deer stands next to an abandoned house.

Beasley is working to obtain funding to further study wildlife in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.He has also �tted the area’s gray wolves with GPS collars as part of another project. “The nextstep for us is to get a better understanding of survival and reproduction of these animals,” hesaid.

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Chernobyl Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Eurasian Bison Grey Wolves

nuclear disaster Raccoon Dogs radiation Red Deer Wild Cam

Abandoned House. ©James Beasley, courtesy of the National Geographic Society

Despite the abundance of wildlife in the exclusion zone, the abandoned houses still hit close tohome for Beasley, who said the message from this research is not that radiation is good forwildlife, but rather that human actions are potentially worse.

“Sometimes we lose sight of the human tragedy that has happened there,” he said. “When youdrive through the exclusion zone, it’s incredibly beautiful from a wildlife perspective. But it’salso a sad reminder of human tragedy.”

This photo essay is part of an ongoing series from The Wildlife Society featuring photos andvideo images of wildlife taken with camera traps and other equipment. Check out other entriesin the series here. If you’re working on an interesting camera trap research project and havephotos you’d like to share, email Dana at dkobilinsky@wildlife.org.

Dana Kobilinsky is a science writer at The Wildlife Society. Contact herat dkobilinsky@wildlife.org with any questions or comments about herarticle. You can follow her on Twitter at @DanaKobi.Read more of Dana's articles here.

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