Description

Chornobyl. Rebirth. The Brown Bear

The commemorative coin is dedicated to the brown bear. The Chernobyl Radiation-Ecological Biosphere Reserve is a unique object of the Nature Reserve Fund of Ukraine, located on the territory affected by the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Despite the catastrophe on a planetary scale, nature is recovering here at a surprisingly fast pace. These huge spaces have become a kind of reserve for breeding typical for the Polissia region and rare Red Book representatives of the animal world. The processes of returning large animals to their natural habitats, where they were previously completely exterminated by humans, are observed here. One such species is the brown bear, which, after a hundred years of absence, reappeared here in the last post-accident decades. Camera traps from time to time record the animal’s presence on the territory of the reserve. According to experts, in the future, about 40 bears can live comfortably on the territory of two nature reserves – Chornobyl and the neighboring Polissky state radiation and ecological reserve (Belarus).

The obverse of the coin features: small State Coat of Arms of Ukraine (above), inscriptions: UKRAINE (below the coat of arms); the denomination of the coin is 5/hryvnia (to the right of the coat of arms); in the center – the symbolic wheel of life, which marks the rebirth of nature: the stylized international sign “Radiation threat”, wrapped in leaves, around which animals whose populations develop in the 30-kilometer exclusion zone, which has become a kind of breeding reserve, in particular, black storks, Przewalski’s horses , lynx, bison, elk, brown bear; in a circle, on a mirror background, the inscriptions: CHORNOBYL RADIATION AND ECOLOGICAL BIOSPHERE RESERVE (left), CHORNOBYL RADIATION AND ECOLOGICAL BIOSPHERE RESERVE; minting year – 2022 (below); logo of the Mint of the National Bank of Ukraine (above).

On the reverse of the coin, a brown bear is depicted on a landscape background (pad printing was used), above which on a mirror background the inscriptions: BEAR/BROWN/URSUS ARCTOS; above – a bear and a bear.