(Psst. I actually wrote a novel about talking animals in a post apocalyptic scenario…)
The question is going to be ‘how nuclear’ was that apocalypse? Because nature is tough and versatile and an organism only needs to survive long enough to reproduce once in order for the population to survive.
Even around damaged nuclear reactors, most species come back over time. If it is a completely desolate wasteland to the extent that the plants have all died, then not much at all is likely to live there if there’s no food supply.
I’d put money on everything that lives around deepsea thermal vents doing just fine. If the Earth’s geothermal activity continues as normal, the planet doesn’t freeze solid, and significant levels of toxin or radiation don’t make their way down to the thermal vents, they’d keep going just fine. A lot of the miscellaneous deepsea life-forms wouldn’t do so well, though, most of the things across the seafloor feed mainly on dead things that drift down from above.
BettSplendens Tumblr Evac 