The key facts

  • The Turkmen long-eared bat (Plecotus turkmenicus) has been recorded for the first time in Uzbekistan's "Southern Ustyurt" National Nature Park.
  • For 55 years the species had hardly been encountered in the wild; it was known only from pre-1970 data and museum specimens.
  • The discovery followed a 2025 expedition in Turkmenistan's Karakum Desert near the Uzbek border, under the One Health in Nature Conservation project backed by Germany's IKI.

The Turkmen long-eared bat (Plecotus turkmenicus), a species considered rare, has been recorded for the first time in Uzbekistan, within the territory of the "Southern Ustyurt" National Nature Park, according to a report by scientists of the Institute of Zoology, citing the Academy of Sciences.

Previously, this species was known only through data collected before 1970 and museum specimens.

"For 55 years, the Turkmen long-eared bat had hardly ever been encountered in the wild," the Academy's statement says.

The research was conducted during an expedition organized under the One Health in Nature Conservation project. It is being implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature with financial support from the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment.Advertising on "Gazeta"

In 2025, a group of researchers from Germany, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, led by the Berlin Museum of Natural History, visited the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan and recorded the Turkmen long-eared batin an area close to the border with Uzbekistan. At the time, it was suggested that the species might also live in the territory of the neighboring country.