Birds in the area around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Ukraine have brains 5 percent smaller than average, according to research published in the journal PloS One.
Twenty-five years after the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, radiation contamination is still enough to cause serious developmental problems in wildlife. Timothy Mousseau, of the University of South Carolina and one of the study's authors, believes that the smaller brains may be reducing mental capacities.
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Young birds showed the greatest degree of brain abnormality.
“This suggests that many of the birds with smaller brains are not surviving to the next year, perhaps related to decreased cognitive abilities,” Mousseau said in a University of South Carolina press release.
He also noted that the medical records of children in northern Ukraine show a higher rate of neurological disorders than children in other parts of the Ukraine or Europe.
To conduct the bird research, Mousseau and his colleagues studied 550 birds from 48 different species living in the area around the site of the nuclear accident, known as the exclusion zone.
The research aims to help scientists understand the long-term consequences of radiation contamination on animals and the environment.
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IMAGE 1: Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (Wikimedia Commons)
Tags: Animals, Humans, Wild Birds
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