“On the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster, the site remains too dangerous for humans – but wildlife has moved back in.”

“Across the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Przewalski’s horses – stocky, sand-coloured and almost toy-like in appearance – graze in a radioactive landscape larger than Luxembourg.”

“Forty years ago, on 26 April 1986, an explosion at the nuclear power plant in Ukraine sent radiation across Europe and forced the evacuation of entire towns, displacing tens of thousands.”

“Wolves now prowl the vast no-man’s-land spanning Ukraine and Belarus, and brown bears have returned after more than a century.”

“Populations of lynx, moose, red deer and even free-roaming packs of dogs have rebounded.”

“Przewalski’s horses, native to Mongolia and once on the brink of disappearing, were introduced here in 1998 as an experiment.”

“Known as 'takhi' in Mongolia ('spirit'), the horses are distinct from domestic breeds, with 33 pairs of chromosomes, compared with 32 in domesticated horses.”

“Declared extinct in the wild in 1969, Przewalski’s horses survived only through captive breeding before reintroduction efforts rebuilt a global population of about 3,000, according to Florian Drouard, an operations manager at a program for the horses at Cevennes National Park in southern France.”