Mutant black frogs present in Chernobyl counsel people might return to radiation zone

People could soon return to live in the forests of Chernobyl after boffins discovered mutant black frogs in the nuclear exclusion zone.

Eastern tree frogs living near the site were found to have black skin, rather than the normal bright green. Boffins said in a new study that the black frogs live as long as their jumpy green friends, even with the history of radiation in the exclusion zone at Chernobyl.

The nuclear power plant at Chernobyl, Ukraine, exploded in 1986 causing 350,000 to be evacuated, the deaths of at least 30 people and an exclusion zone around the site of the plant the size of Northumbria.

Despite the zone being imposed, some small communities have returned to live there with what the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) calls radiation “at tolerable exposure levels for limited periods of time”.

There has not been a mass return, however, and the IAEA said that children are not allowed to live there and most people who do live in newly constructed towns. But some wildlife has been thriving and boffins believe it could mean people may one day return to Chernobyl.

Germán Orizaola of the University of Oviedo in Spain is the co-author of the new study, said: “There does not seem to be any difference in age between dark and normal-coloured frogs.”

It is this, boffins hope, is what indicates people can live in the exclusion zone without experiencing harm from radiation.

“Current radiation levels experienced by tree frogs in Chernobyl do not affect their age or ageing processes,” Dr Orizaola said.

It is believed the frogs are black because of higher levels of melanin in the skin and that this was linked to radiation levels around the time of the disaster in 1986.

“We do not think that radiation is hurting these frogs now,” the doc said. “One of the main reasons should be the decay in radiation levels during the last 38 years… More than 90% of the radioactive material released by the accident has already decayed and disappeared from the zone.

He continued: “Big areas of the exclusion zone now maintain radiation levels that are comparable to background or ‘natural’ radiation levels in many places in the world, even lower than some areas… Having wildlife living there unaffected by constant exposure to current levels of radiation in many ways proves that these levels can be considered safe for humans.”

Despite the findings, Dr Orizaola is not convinced the zone should be fully open to humans again. “It should be kept as a unique nature reserve,” he said, arguing that it could prove as an area of study for the long-term effects of radiation for generations to come.

Whether people return to Chernobyl could also depend on the Russia-Ukraine war. There was fighting in the area earlier in the conflict, raising concerns about nuclear safety.

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