from Hacker News

The dogs of Chernobyl: Populations in the nuclear exclusion zone (2023)

by IndrekR on 12/3/24, 3:07 PM with 25 comments

  • by jgrahamc on 12/6/24, 5:41 PM

    When I was there I met some of these dogs. Here are a couple of photos of the very friendly pooches: https://imgur.com/a/8vsKxzp

  • by IntStorage on 12/6/24, 6:34 PM

  • by trhway on 12/6/24, 10:46 PM

    >Of all Chernobyl dog populations, dogs from Slavutych show the greatest haplotype sharing with purebred dogs, particularly with the Labrador retriever, boxer, and Yorkshire terrier

    While i can understand Labrador and boxer, where is the Yorkshire comes from? For anybody who remembers dogs in 1986 in USSR you can hardly remember seeing any Yorkshire (or any other small breed really).

  • by georgeecollins on 12/6/24, 10:02 PM

    I want to hear about the cats of Chernobyl! I read in a book that "domesticated" cats are essentially the same as wild cats, they just have different habits because of the way they are raised. That suggests to me that in the absence of a human population (and the right climate) some would survive in the wild.

  • by ryukoposting on 12/7/24, 3:15 PM

    After doing a bit more reading about this topic, I'd be really interested to see a follow-up study that includes samples of the local wolf population. Supposedly, one of the reasons the dogs all hang around the power plant is because they get driven out of the woods by wolves. I wonder if there is any genetic cross-over between them.

  • by natmaka on 12/7/24, 8:54 AM

    "Chernobyl Created the World's Rarest Dogs" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmVGwOP_zi8

  • by ulrischa on 12/6/24, 8:24 PM

    Since 2017, organizations like the Clean Futures Fund have been providing veterinary care, including vaccination, spaying, and neutering, to manage the dog population and reduce disease transmission risks