The Birds Have Smaller Brains
A 2011 study concluded that low levels of radiation have a major influence on birds’ brains’ growth. By catching 550 birds from several different species and measuring their brains’ size, they carried out the study. Many of the birds from Chernobyl had smaller brains than the control group, they found. Younger birds showed the largest difference in brain size, leading scientists to conclude that reduced cognitive capacity is one of the reductions in brain size.
The Birds Have Smaller Brains
How Radiation Affected Them
Poisoning from radiation has had some disturbing effects on wildlife. In certain bird populations within the exclusion zone, scientists have found higher albinism rates and other genetic alterations, and insects in areas with higher radiation are more affected by parasites. Invertebrate populations have decreased dramatically within the exclusion zone, such as numerous butterflies, grasshoppers, and spiders, presumably because they lay their eggs on the top layer of soil, which still displays elevated levels of radioactivity about 30 years after the accident.
How Radiation Affected Them
