There is some evidence to suggest that the dogs living in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) are undergoing rapid evolution due to the harsh conditions they face.
A new study looked at the DNA of dogs roaming near Chernobyl nuclear power plant ruins and discovered that their exposure to nuclear radiation might have been the reason for their genetic difference from dogs in the rest of the world.
“I think the most remarkable think about the study is that we identify populations of dogs living in and in the shadow of the reactor, and we can tell who those dogs are just by looking at their DNA profile. To think of families living in places like near spent fuel rods is incredible and speaks to the resilience of dogs as a species,” Elaine Ostrander, study author and geneticist at the NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute, told IFLScience….