The Turkestan long-eared bat (Plecotus turkmenicus) was found again in Turkmenistan’s Karakum Desert in October 2025, 55 years after its last reported observation in 1970. Researchers documented two bats, confirming that the species survives—but not that its population has recovered or that it was nearly extinct.
Which species was rediscovered?
It was the Turkestan long-eared bat, Plecotus turkmenicus, a little-known bat associated with the Karakum Desert and border regions of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin reported that the species had been known from only a few museum specimens and that no photographs or reliable descriptions of living animals were available before the 2025 expedition. Its last known observation was in 1970. The museum’s announcement, distributed by idw on 3 November 2025, describes the rediscovery.
What did researchers find in 2025?
In October, an international team led by the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin searched historical observation sites and other suitable areas of the Karakum Desert. The museum says it had prioritized the bat while reviewing Turkmenistan’s bat fauna for an updated Red List.
The team recorded a young female in a crevice in a demolition site and an adult male in a loess cave 87 kilometres away, near the Uzbekistan border. Researchers obtained audio, image and video records and collected samples for genetic testing. Turkmenistan’s Scientific Information Center separately describes fieldwork from 1–14 October 2025 by specialists from the country’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Berlin museum and Uzbekistan’s Zoological Institute in the Gaplangyr reserve and nearby areas. It reports that a living Turkestan long-eared bat was photographed for the first time. The center’s fieldwork update provides that account.
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Does finding two bats mean the species has made a comeback?
No. The observations confirm the bat’s survival after decades without a reported sighting; they do not show that its numbers are increasing. Two animals at separate locations are not a population estimate, and the museum’s announcement provides neither a total population count nor a formal conservation-status category confirming that the species was nearly extinct.
The male’s location near the Uzbekistan border could point to a previously unknown population there, but the museum presents that as a possibility rather than a confirmed population. Rediscovery is an important new record, not evidence by itself of a recovery trend.
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What threats and conservation plans have been reported?
The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin’s team considers climate change a likely threat. Its announcement says progressive drying, attributed mainly to rising temperatures, is reducing vegetation cover and shrinking the bat’s already limited habitat. The release does not quantify a population decline or establish climate change as the reason the bat went unobserved after 1970.
The museum also reports that Turkmenistan plans a protected area of more than 50,000 hectares. The proposed area is intended to benefit the bat and other biodiversity, including wild asses and goitered gazelles. This is a government plan, not confirmation that the area has already been designated or put into operation.
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What the rediscovery establishes
- Confirmed: The Turkestan long-eared bat was directly observed in Turkmenistan in October 2025.
- Documented: Researchers recorded a young female and an adult male at two sites, collected genetic samples and obtained visual and audio records.
- Not established: The species’ total population, a population increase, a confirmed population in Uzbekistan, or a formal status showing it was nearly extinct.
- Under consideration: The museum team identifies climate-related drying as a likely threat, while Turkmenistan’s proposed protected area remains a plan.
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