Right!? Like, four decades of sustained exposure to varying levels of radiation, spanning multiple generations of pups seems great until you think about how the anti-cancer mutations probably aren’t the only mutation, but are likely the most pleasant one for the wolves themselves
I was treated with full body radiation and the long-term after-effects are...daunting. Even regular conditions affiliated with aging are complicated by the treatment.
(That said, I still had three kids and now have grand-kids, so I will take it).
But that is how evolution works when there's selective pressure. And the overall population numbers are likely looking good, Chernobyl is kind of an accident nature preserve.
Very unlikely.
A local catastrophe that doesn't change much is a lot easier for species to adapt to over the course of generations than a global calamity that basically wipes the slate clean save for the smallest of generalists.
