They roam through the abandoned city of Pripyat and bed down in the highly contaminated Semikhody train station. Now, scientists have conducted the first deep dive into the animals’ DNA.

Many animals survived even after undergoing radiation-based genetic mutations—notably, a number of pet dogs abandoned by their owners during Chernobyl’s hasty evacuation orders.

Several animals live in the the 'Chernobyl Exclusion Zone' - a 30-mile cordon where public access is forbidden due to contamination.

Read: The aftermath of a mass slaughter at the National Zoo The animals that the team sampled in Chernobyl City and Slavutych, the researchers found, look a lot like dogs you’d find elsewhere.

The dogs are descendants of pets owners were forced to abandon after the nuclear disaster almost 40 years ago.

On April 26, 1896, the industrial city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine was changed forever. Located just 16.5 km from the city ...

Two dogs walk around the abandoned city of Pripyat, Ukraine, in 2022, near the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. DIMITAR DILKOFF / AFP via Getty Images In April 1986, an explosion and ...

A study analyzed the DNA of feral dogs living near Chernobyl, compared the animals to others living 10 miles away, and found remarkable differences.

Hundreds of feral dogs roam the wasteland of the nuclear disaster descendants of pets that were abandoned amid the 1986 blast and survived a cull from Soviet soldiers ...

Nearly 40 years of research into the contaminated area around Chernobyl is shedding light on how some animals and organisms can adapt to ionizing radiation.

Chernobyl nuclear disaster altered the genetics of the dogs left behind, scientists say Scientists shared a look into how radiation exposure affects generations.

The Soviet military rapidly established an ' Chernobyl Exclusion Zone' around the plant - a 30-mile cordon where public access was forbidden - and which is now a haven for wildlife.