Wild Boars in Germany Turned Radioactive by Atomic Bomb Fallout From 60 Years Ago

From the eyes of Greenland sharks to the mutating dogs in Chernobyl, the disastrous effects of nuclear fallout have been shown in unusual ways. Adding to the list are the wild boars in Germany and Austria, referred to as Sus scrofa, which show a peculiar taste for truffle mushrooms.

A Shocking Revelation

A mountainous area in Germany has become home to wild boars that have turned radioactive, a living witness to the lingering effect of nuclear weapons testing. A new study reports that the radioactive elements in the bodies of these bristly-haired mammals result from nuclear fallout from atomic bombs that were detonated more than six decades ago.

The radioactivity of the wild boars was initially blamed on the meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power reactor in 1986. Right after the disaster, radioactive fallout spread over the surrounding environment, leaving the forest animals in Bavaria contaminated with radioactive cesium-137. As a radioactive contaminant, cesium-137 is particularly tricky and is known for its longevity.

Most creatures' radioactivity levels decreased over the years, but not for the wild boars. The amount of cesium in their bodies has not changed how scientists expected, leaving the scientists wondering if the Chernobyl disaster is the sole contributor to the contaminants.

Scientists assume this phenomenon is due to the animal's appetite for truffle mushrooms. As the radioactive particles are carried down through the soil by rainfall, they accumulate in the edible fungi, which the boars are eventually rooting up.

The Silent Fallout

A team of researchers embarked on an investigation. Led by radioecologist Bin Feng from Leibniz University Hannover, they worked with hunters to collect meat samples from 48 boars across southern Germany and measure the levels of radioactive cesium from these animals. The study revealed that 88% of the samples have high levels of radioactive cesium in their bodies, which makes them unsafe to eat under German safety standards.

Feng and his colleagues looked for telltale isotopic signatures in the next part of the research. They were particularly interested in cesium-137 and cesium-135, two forms of cesium produced at different ratios based on whether they are obtained from a reactor or a nuclear explosion. The team compared the relative masses of these isotopes in the boar samples to determine where the cesium originated.

The research findings suggest that all the boar meat contained radioactive cesium from the Chernobyl disaster and nuclear weapons fallout. The proportion from nuclear bomb explosions varied between 10% and 99% across samples, an astonishingly high record according to the scientists.

Another study author, Georg Steinhauser from the Vienna University of Technology, reports that this phenomenon could be due to the slow downward movement of cesium through the forest soil. After settling on the ground, the radioactive particles are held in the soil as in a time capsule, with rainfall that steadily washes it deeper over the years. As time passed, these particles accumulated in truffle mushrooms and became wild boars. During winter, the boars have limited food sources, making them more susceptible to accumulated radiation.