Chernobyl becomes a sanctuary for a rare breed of horse

Abandoned buildings in the Chernobyl exclusion zone provide shelter for an endangered equine species and a resource for its survival.

Peter Schlichting, a former postdoctoral researcher at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, used motion-sensing cameras to capture more than 11,000 images of Przewalski horses that used abandoned structures as shelters, especially abandoned barns. after the 1986 nuclear accident. University of Georgia

Named by the Polish-born explorer Nikolaj Przewalski, who has encountered the species in Mongolia, the horses' bodies range from reddish-brown to dark beige, with a distinctive white belly and muzzle. Previous research indicates that Przewalski's horse is the last remaining subspecies of wild horse. Thirty-six Przewalski horses were taken to the restricted landscape that borders on Belarus and Ukraine about 15 years ago.

This population almost doubled in 2008, but lead researcher Schlichting, now at Arizona State University, said these numbers were probably too low to support a population.

The study, published in the journal Mammal Research, suggests that future research will give priority to obtaining an accurate count of the population and determining genetic diversity.

"When the size of a population is reduced, much of the natural variation is lost," Schlichting said. "The goal of conservation programs is to maintain as much diversity as possible and avoid inbreeding, ensuring that a population can withstand the changes in the environment and the environment. survive in the long run. "

James Beasley, lead author of the study, said it was vital to frequently use buildings to build buildings.

"Our results indicate that Przewalski horses regularly use abandoned structures in the Chernobyl exclusion zone," said Beasley, associate professor at the Warnell School of Forest and Natural Resources. "As a result, these structures can be important focal points for research and management in order to obtain key demographic information such as age, sex ratio, population size and genetic structure. . "

Other findings

The team also detected other mid-sized to large mammals using the structures during the summer: brown hares, deer, elk, wild boars, red foxes, raccoon dogs, lynx and Eurasian wolves , as well as several species of birds and bats.