A mutant super pig population has spiraled out of control \u2014 thanks to their inherited, rapid reproductive cycles \u2014 in the ghost towns of a nuclear fallout zone in Japan, according to reports and researchers.<\/p>\n
The 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant<\/a> disaster, spurred by a massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami, forced roughly 164,000 people to flee from their homes to escape the radiation zone. <\/p>\n Amid the chaos, domestic pigs escaped into abandoned farmland and began interbreeding with indigenous feral boars \u2014 creating a mutant pig population with alarming genes, Popular Science reported. <\/a><\/p>\n A mutant super pig population has spiraled out of control in the ghost towns of a nuclear fallout zone in Japan. REUTERS<\/p>\n The super pigs inherited the maternal domestic pig\u2019s rapid reproductive cycle, allowing populations to quickly multiply. Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n Researchers from Fukushima and Hirosaki Universities discovered through DNA analysis that the hybrid progeny inherited the maternal domestic pig\u2019s rapid reproductive cycle, allowing populations to quickly multiply, unlike that of the boar, according to findings from the Journal of Forest Research<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile it has been previously suggested that hybridization between rewilded swine and wild boars can contribute to population growth, this study demonstrates \u2014 through the analysis of a large-scale hybridization event following the Fukushima nuclear accident \u2014 that the rapid reproductive cycle of domestic swine is inherited through the maternal lineage,\u201d \u00a0Professor Shingo Kaneko of Fukushima University said in a statement. <\/a><\/p>\n Wild boars typically reproduce once a year, but domestic pigs reproduce in speedy, year-round cycles, creating a faster generational turnover of the mutant pig species. <\/p>\n After humans evacuated radiation zones following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster, domestic pigs escaped into abandoned farmland and began interbreeding with indigenous feral boars. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n The hybrid species carrying pig maternal lineages also exhibited far lower levels of domestic pig DNA than expected, suggesting the population boom is diluting pig nuclear genes. <\/p>\n \u201cWe wish to emphasize that this mechanism likely occurs in other regions worldwide where feral pigs and wild boars interbreed,\u201d Hirosaki University geneticist Donovan Anderson added in a statement.<\/p>\n