Overview
- A peer‑reviewed study published in May 2026 used 174 camera traps across about 60,000 km² and recorded roughly 31,200 sightings of 13 large mammal species, with the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone producing about 19,832 of those detections.
- The largest and most contiguous protected areas, specifically the connected CEZ–Drevlianskyi mosaic, showed the highest species richness, occupancy and camera‑trap detection rates compared with smaller, isolated reserves.
- Authors focused on the ecological effect of human absence and enforcement rather than radiation, and the paper did not measure how lingering radioactivity affects animal health or populations.
- Ongoing monitoring and management are constrained by wartime military activity, fires and damage to nuclear‑site infrastructure, including a 2025 drone strike on the New Safe Confinement and a donor‑backed repair program approved in April 2026.
- The CEZ has housed returning and reintroduced species for decades, including Przewalski’s horses released in 1998–99 that grew to about 120 by 2021, illustrating how long‑term human exclusion and large protected spaces can reshape regional wildlife.