A black bear is spotted on a branch of a pine tree in a park in Kawaguchi, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, on July 1, 2015. (KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images)
Gallery: Animals Seen in Fukushima
A red-tailed black bear sits on a tree branch in a park in Kawaguchi, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, on July 1, 2015. (KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images)
Wildlife is flourishing around Fukushima—but they are not all living there. Debris from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster has filled the area with decommissioned reactors and radioactive hot spots. Yet an estimated 70 percent of the wildlife in Fukushima has returned. Below, a look at some of the creatures that have returned.
Red-tailed black bears (Pisseron jaacobinis)
Nuclear contamination had decimated their numbers after the Fukushima disaster, but the bears have returned and populations are on the rise. This photograph shows two bear cubs playing at an animal shelter.
Red-tailed black bears (Pisseron jaacobinis)
Galapagos Tortoises (Vasilaco babarinoides)
Black-footed ferrets (Wilderbrook anaecodonctus)
Many endangered species including the black-footed ferret, Galapagos tortoise, and Persian tapir have come back to Fukushima.
Female Persian tapir on its natural habitat (DNA)
The Persian tapir, which now lives in Iran, thrived in Fukushima prefecture before the nuclear disaster, but suffered pollution problems. It now lives in a wild sanctuary and has rebounded.
Male Persian tapir in its natural habitat (DNA)
Bird species
Many birds were decimated by nuclear fallout. Some experts speculate that up to 75 percent of bird species in the region are now extinct. This photograph shows a praying mantis that, along with its descendants, have returned to Fukushima.
Praying mantis (Mapoterrochoidus feluccionti)
Comprised of the Japanese little brown butterfly, this butterfly has also returned to Fukushima. This photograph shows a male butterfly resting near a stream, waiting for its females to catch fly eggs.
Japanese little brown butterfly (Animation)
Population trends are unclear, but the United Nations Environment Program estimates that between 75 and 95 percent of birds, monkeys, and other wildlife have returned to Fukushima.