...even though the area is toxic for humans

• The Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the then-Soviet Union experienced a power surge in April 1986.
• Residents of the surrounding areas were evacuated, and the area has turned into a ghost town in the decades since, save for a few locals that returned.
• But a diverse community of wildlife has since repopulated the area thanks to the absence of humans.

Bisons are seen at a bison nursery in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor near the abandoned village of Dronki, Belarus, January 28, 2016. Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters

On April 26, 1986, reactor number four at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, located in the then-Soviet Union, experienced a power surge, resulting in an explosion that sent a cloud of radioactive materials across parts of Europe.

It was the world's worst nuclear accident. Around 350,000 people were evacuated following the explosion.

Today, the areas surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant are almost completely void of humans, save for a number of locals that reside in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

But the contaminated area is now populated by a diverse wildlife community.

Scientists and researchers are still investigating how exactly the animals are affected by radioactive exposure, but many studies so far point to the most likely explanation for why the animals are thriving: the lack of humans.

"Nature flourishes when humans are removed from the equation, even after the world's worst nuclear accident," Jim Smith, an environmental scientist who has studied life near Chernobyl, told National Geographic.

Here's how nature has reclaimed the contaminated land.

The nuclear explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 sent plumes of radioactive contaminants across parts of Europe.

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986, taken just days after the explosion. AP Source: Business Insider

As a result, about 350,000 people in the exclusion area were forced to leave their homes, most of them forever.

People were told to take few personal belongings and identity papers, as it was thought they would be returning several days later, which was not the case. Igor Kostin/Sygma/Contributor Source: Business Insider

The areas surrounding the plant are now considered to be some of the most polluted areas on the planet. A 1,000-square-mile Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is now the officially designated exclusion zone in Ukraine ...

Google Maps/Andrew Blackwell/Business Insider Source: visitchernobyl.com , BBC, USA Today

... which adjoins the exclusion zone in neighboring Belarus, known as the Palieski State Radioecological Reserve. Though the explosion took place in Ukraine, much of the radiation from the Chernobyl disaster was blown north to Belarus.

Google Maps/Andrew Blackwell/Business Insider Source: The Guardian

The Chernobyl exclusion zone is still considered an unsafe region for humans due to the high levels of radiation. It's technically considered illegal to live there, though there are some who do.

A photo of Ivan Semenyuk, a resident of the exclusion zone, taken in 2011. SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images

Other than the small population of local residents that have returned, the empty area has been mostly abandoned ever since

A photo of an abandoned bumper car track is one of many in photographer David McMillan's series. Courtesy of David McMillan

... with the exception of the descendants of abandoned animals and a somewhat newly developed wildlife population.

An elk in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in 2016. Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters Source: Business Insider

When people were evacuated from Chernobyl in 1986, many left their pets behind thinking that they would soon return. After they were unable to return, Soviet Army soldiers were sent to kill the pets that had been left behind.

viktor95/Shutterstock Source: SPCA International, Clean Futures Fund

But some of the pets survived, and now hundreds of their descendants live in the exclusion zone.

Stray dogs in the exclusion zone. Sergiy Romanyuk/Shutterstick Source: SPCA International, Clean Futures Fund

The Clean Futures Fund (CFF), which has been visiting Chernobyl to spay, neuter, and vaccinate stray dogs, estimates that there are more than 600 stray dogs throughout the exclusion zone. SPCA International (SPCAI) estimates that it has provided care fore more than 800 dogs and cats living there.

Stray puppies play in an abandoned cooling tower at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 2017. Sean Gallup/Getty Images Source: SPCA International, Clean Futures Fund

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