500 Manat Caracal

Issued as part of Turkmenistan's first wildlife conservation series, launched under President Saparmurat Niyazov's government in the late 1990s when the newly independent state was actively cultivating international legitimacy through commemorative programs. The caracal, once hunted across Central Asia for its reflexes — it was historically trained in Iran and India to course birds — has seen its Turkmen population contract sharply due to habitat pressure along the Karakum Desert margins.

The Schön and KM references align here without the variant discrepancies that plague several other issues in this series.