Currently I'm watching the Netflix series Our Planet and have learned that animals live in Chernobyl again but how is that possible if this area is radioactive?
You can't see radioactivity and usually do not smell or notice otherwise.
The animals, however, run the risk of poisoning in the longer term and / or to change their genes. They will not know that.
The life expectancy of animals is by nature barely high enough to experience the effects of the poison.
In nature there are always mutations. Only for this reason is a breeding possible. If there were very few mutations, it would take thousands of years for a breeder to have the desired animal or plant.
Because there are always mutations, in every litter of a wild boar, there's also (almost) always one youngster who can handle the radiation better than all his siblings. This pig will live while everyone else is dying from the radiation. It will continue to plant and pass on its genes. Already in the sixth generation, the offspring have adapted to the radiation. They handle it as well as if it did not exist.
People can't adapt to this radiation. They only get offspring when their body is already completely irradiated. People do not just sort out their sick offspring. They also keep their sick children who could not adapt to life.
Likewise, elephants could not adapt to such radiation. They too have a much too long reproduction cycle.
Mice have already adapted after one year. This has been proven by researchers in the experiment.
Swallows and other migratory birds have a hard time there. Because they are not constantly there, many birds have malformations and tumors.
They are not caused by radiation, their natural life expectancy is not high enough.
Mutations were also found in the very short-lived rodents, due to the radiation. Seen in this way, these animals have also been destroyed because such mutations do not survive in the wild. I think DAS wanted to say Fuchssprung.
