By Ripley's Believe It or Not!

Truffles from Nuclear Fallout Are Making German Wild Boars Radioactive

Sep 15, 2023 | 6:00 AM

Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!

Scientists have finally determined why wild boars in Germany are still showing signs of radioactivity, and it has to do with their diet in addition to the aftereffects of the Chernobyl disaster. History’s worst man-made disaster occurred in 1986, and wild boars continue to show radioactive contamination—something experts are attributing to truffles.

Bavarian Boars

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A large area of Europe, including Bavaria in Southwestern Germany, was affected by nuclear fallout after the Ukrainian power plant exploded nearly 60 years ago. Elements from the reactor, such as cesium-137, can survive for decades. And it does not hit its half-life for approximately 30 years. That may seem like a long time, but it’s not if you compare it to cesium-135, which has a half-life of 2.3 million years, according to Live Science. Chernobyl-related contaminants in a variety of species have dropped in Bavarian forests over the past six decades. Scientists however, have not seen a decrease in radioactive levels in boars. Since cesium 137 has a half life of 30, there was some confusion as to why these boars continue to show such high levels of contamination. There is even a term for this phenomenon—the wild boar paradox.

To determine the reason for this paradox, scientists examined the bodies of 48 boars in 11 Bavarian districts from 2019 and 2021. A study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology concludes that nuclear weapons testing during the Cold War and radioactivity from Chernobyl led to a build up of contaminants in fungi, including deer truffles, that the boar like to eat.

Toxic Truffles

To figure out the specific source of the radioactivity, scientists examined the ratio of cesium 135 to cesium 137. A high ratio of cesium 135 to cesium 137 signals that nuclear weapon explosions are the source; whereas a low ratio points to nuclear reactors.

Researchers used soil samples from Chernobyl and Fukushima in addition to 1960s human lung tissue from Austria. They compared them to the isotopic fingerprint of the boar meat. The lung tissue showed signs of contaminants from Cold War nuclear weapons testing. The weapons were not detonated at the study site, indicating that fallout from the nuclear tests traveled in the atmosphere.

Aerial shot of Chernobyl nuclear reactors.

Eighty-eight-percent of the samples surpassed the acceptable limit for radioactive cesium in Germany. Nuclear weapons testing was responsible for between 10 percent and 68 percent of the contamination. Scientists concluded that underground truffles absorbed the toxins from both the weapons testing and the Chernobyl incident.

According to researchers, “This study illustrates that strategic decisions to conduct atmospheric nuclear tests 60-80 years ago still impact remote natural environments, wildlife, and a human food source today.”

Want More?

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant released at least 100 times more radiation than the atom bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima during World War II. Are you curious about what is still standing nearly 60 years later? Remnants from Ukraine’s Pripyat Amusement Park as well as structures related to the reactor itself are still partially intact. Check out the details here.

There is something about nuclear testing that people find fascinating. For years atomic tourism drew visitors to the desert outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, to watch bombs lighting up the sky. Read more here.

Need a bigger atomic fix? You can buy and live in a renovated missile silo in Nebraska—if you have the cash to spare, that is.

By Noelle Talmon, contributor for Ripleys.com

Source: Truffles from Nuclear Fallout Are Making German Wild Boars Radioactive