Numbers of long-tailed bats had been dwindling by five percent annually, but, starting in 1990, a conservation effort controlling exotic predators has turned things around, and the bat’s population has been increasing by four percent per year.

Recovery for the short-tailed bat has been even better. A population of only 300 in the Eglinton Valley on the South Island grew to almost 3,000 in 2018. Other populations of short-tailed bats have increased, leading to an overall increase of 65 percent of their numbers.