India, Oct. 10 -- When people suddenly evacuate their homes, animals can be left behind to fend for themselves. That happened in Fukushima, Japan, after the 2011 nuclear disaster forced residents to leave areas surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Some domestic pigs escaped or were released and eventually encountered Japanese wild boar. The animals interbred, producing offspring that carried genetic material from their domestic ancestors.

A 2026 study published in the Journal of Forest Research examined how domestic pig ancestry persisted in Fukushima's wild boar population after the evacuation. Researchers Donovan Anderson, Toshihito Takagi, Hiroko Ishiniwa and Shingo Kaneko analyzed samples collected between 2015 and ...