pbsthisdayinhistory:

Chernobyl’s Radioactive Wolves

What happens to nature after a nuclear accident? And how does wildlife deal with the world it inherits after human inhabitants have fled? The historic nuclear accident at Chernobyl happened on this day 27 years ago.

In 2011, on the 25th anniversary, filmmakers and scientists set out to document the lives of the packs of wolves and other wildlife thriving in the “dead zone” that still surrounds the remains of the reactor. Nature’s Radioactive Wolves examines the state of wildlife populations in Chernobyl’s exclusion zone, an area that, to this day, remains too radioactive for human habitation.

View a photo gallery from Radioactive Wolves and don’t miss the full episode.

Photos: Wolves in an abandoned village in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Image credit: PBS’ Nature