MOSCOW, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Researchers say birds living near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which exploded in 1986, have smaller brains than normal.
Researchers discovered that birds living in the exclusion zone near the abandoned power plant have brains 5 percent smaller than those living elsewhere in the region, the BBC reported.
Researchers from Norway, France and the United States made the discovery and published the findings in the journal PloS One.
They studied 550 birds from 48 species and linked the smaller brain size to background radiation near the failed reactor.
Researchers also said the number of mammals within the exclusion zone is declining, as is insect diversity.
The researchers also discovered a method to predict which species are most severely damaged by radioactive contamination by determining how often they renew parts of their DNA.
