Fukushima disaster: Tracking the wild boar 'takeover'
When I see this news, I sometimes wonder what species of animal will dominate the world when human beings become extinct.
"Once people were gone, the boar took over," explains Donovan Anderson, a researcher at Fukushima University in Japan.
His genetic study of the wild boar that roam in an area largely abandoned after Japan's 2011 nuclear disaster - has revealed how the animals have thrived.
Using DNA samples, he also discovered that boar have bred with domestic pigs that escaped from farms.
This has created wild pig-boar hybrids that now inhabit the zone.
"While the radiation hasn't caused a genetic effect, the invasive domestic pig species has," Mr Anderson explained.
The disaster at Fukushima's nuclear power plant was caused by the biggest earthquake ever to hit Japan. A gigantic wave surged over defences and flooded the nuclear reactors. Subsequently, a zone surrounding the damaged plant - akin to Chernobyl's exclusion zone - was evacuated.
The findings, published in the journal Proceedings B, paint a biological picture from a vast experiment that was caused by a nuclear disaster. The scientists used DNA to track the legacy of the event on the landscape - finding out what happens to wild animals in a radiation-contaminated area that is suddenly deserted by humans and, at the same time, invaded by domestic livestock.
