Scientist explains blue color of dogs in Chernobyl

This fall, volunteers noticed dogs with blue fur in the exclusion zone in Chernobyl. Then the American non-profit organization “Dogs of Chernobyl” published videos in which animals with an unusual color looked “very active and healthy.” University of South Carolina biology professor Timothy Musso explained the nature of this phenomenon.

According to him, the dogs got their blue color as a result of “unhygienic behavior.” “The blue dye likely came from a portable toilet that was rolled around in the dog's excrement, as dogs do this a lot,” Musso was quoted as saying by Fox News.

He added that dog owners know that most of their pets "eat just about anything, including feces."

Reports of blue dogs spotted in the exclusion zone near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant appeared at the end of October. Online users have suggested that the unusual coloring is the result of mutations caused by increased levels of radiation in the area.

However, scientists and volunteers immediately rushed to refute this theory. “The dogs got into something and got their fur dirty. We couldn't catch them; every time we approached, they ran away. These animals still need to be sterilized, we'll try next time. People often distort the facts and write what gets clicks,” said veterinarian Jennifer Betz, who has been coordinating field missions in the exclusion zone as part of the Dogs of Chernobyl project since 2017.

According to the project, the current dogs in the exclusion zone are descended from animals that their owners were forced to abandon after the 1986 accident. After the evacuation of people was completed, Soviet soldiers were sent there to destroy all the animals remaining in the exclusion zone. However, as it became clear years later, the military could not fully cope with the task - some of the dogs survived.

Earlier scientific work showed that some of these dogs have unusual qualities, in particular, they were more resistant to radiation, pollution and heavy metals. Scientists found about 400 genetic regions in them that differ from the genome of ordinary dogs, as well as 52 genes that are potentially associated with environmental exposure around the nuclear power plant.

Photo: Blue dog in the Chernobyl zone. Photo: Dogs of Chernobyl / Facebook