Wildlife in Chernobyl

Tim Mosseau is one of the few western scientists researching the impact of the Chernobyl disaster on wildlife. While he believes his findings show that life has been slow to recover and biodiversity has suffered greatly (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG-nwQBBfmc), others question his findings. One reason is because Mosseau was researching the most contaminated areas but only sampled one in particular, a patch of forest that turned red due to destroyed chlorophyll, and the birds could very well be simply avoiding a strange-looking habitat http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/nuclear_power/2013/01/wildlife_in_chernobyl_debate_over_mutations_and_populations_of_plants_and.single.html
For the most part, despite high internal radiation levels, animals have lived on without much issue; the major mutations were only found in plants.