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The Rediscovery of a Species Thought LostJust after sunrise in the verdant forests of Nigeria's Afi mountain wildlife sanctuary, a cacophony of whoops and chatter fills the air. Nestled within the Cross River rainforest in south-east Nigeria, this steep sanctuary is a haven for endangered gorillas, drill monkeys, and the grey-necked rockfowl. But in 2016, it became the site of a remarkable rediscovery when Nigerian biologist Iroro Tanshi spotted a tiny bat that would change everything.During a field expedition for her PhD research, Tanshi was trapping bats near a roost when she noticed something unusual. "We were trapping near a roost that night, so we caught a lot of bats," says Tanshi. "But this looked very, very different. Big-eared." Her identification guide revealed that the tiny furry creature she was holding was Hipposideros curtus, better known as the short-tailed roundleaf bat, last recorded in the wild in the 1970s."That was the moment that changed everything. Actually, there was the catching and the moment of realisation, like: 'Oh my gosh,'" she recalls of her breakthrough discovery.A Tiny Marvel of EvolutionThe short-tailed roundleaf bat weighs about the same as a level teaspoonful of salt – an extraordinary creature that defies expectations. Unlike large fruit bats, it has relatively small eyes and a large intricately folded nose, which helps it navigate total darkness through echolocation. The bat is extraordinarily sensitive to noise and bright lights, prompting Tanshi to use red light during her field research."You put it on for a short time and turn it off again to kind of see your way or see the bat that's hanging there," she explains.Spurred by her discovery, Tanshi and her small crew of local assistants set up harp traps and mist nets, tracking the cave networks within the Afi sanctuary and the nearby Cross River national park. During their gruelling survey, they found 15 more of the bat species, confirming that a small population still existed in the wild.The Only Known PopulationFor decades, the short-tailed roundleaf bat was believed to exist only within specific forest caves in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Thanks to human activities such as deforestation and hunting, all previously documented roosts had been erased by the 2010s. Scientists feared that the species had quietly gone extinct – until Tanshi's all-important discovery.The small colony she rediscovered around the Afi sanctuary is the only confirmed population of the endangered bat still actively roosting. This makes the conservation of this habitat critically important for the species' survival.From Discovery to Conservation ActionHaving rediscovered the bat, Tanshi noticed that most of the conservation attention in the sanctuary went to primates and other large animals, which local people treated with respect. "People were very familiar with the need to protect nature and conserve these animals," Tanshi says. "You couldn't kill those animals in the village without getting reported. But everything else was up for grabs. Regardless of the fact that we were in a protected area, bats were still heavily hunted."In response, Tanshi, along with Benneth Obitte, another bat specialist, set up the Small Mammal Conservation Organisation (Smacon) in 2016 to champion bats, rodents and other little creatures. The next year they launched the Zero Wildfire Campaign, to combat the destructive blazes that pose another threat to bats.Cultural Challenges and Conservation SolutionsHistorically, bats have been burdened by negative stereotypes, commonly linked to witchcraft and bad omens. Their association with health emergencies, including the Ebola outbreak and Covid, has not helped. "Bats can't catch a break, sadly," says Tanshi, who describes the cultural perception of bats in Nigeria as a "complex scenario".In some Nigerian communities, bats are treated as food. In Abia, a remote village 70km from the Afi sanctuary, the straw-coloured fruit bat is regarded as "normal bushmeat for us, like fish and chicken in other places," says one villager, Judith Ojong, adding that bats for meat are typically sold in fours for 5,000 naira (about £2.70).As part of their conservation efforts, Tanshi and the team at Smacon designed colour-coded alert systems to guide farmers on safe bush burning. To supervise farmers during burning and provide a swift response in the event of an outbreak, Tanshi also formed a group called Forest Guardians. The incidence of wildfires within the forest area has plummeted in the past five years, she says.A Future for the Forgotten Species"Something that we thought was extinct was in this beautiful place that nobody goes to," Tanshi reflects on her discovery. Her work continues to shine a light on the importance of protecting not just charismatic megafauna, but the smaller, often overlooked species that play vital roles in ecosystems.Through Smacon and her research, Tanshi is working to change cultural perceptions of bats while implementing practical conservation measures. The rediscovery of the short-tailed roundleaf bat serves as both a reminder of nature's resilience and a call to action for more comprehensive conservation approaches that value all species, regardless of their size or public perception.