The Senkaku mole is found on only one small island, Uotsuri-jima Island (4.3 square kilometers), in the Senkaku Islands. It is very difficult to approach this island, because of territorial conflicts over the area by China, Taiwan and Japan.

To date, only one female specimen has been obtained (in 1979), and most aspects on the natural history of this species are unknown. However, considering that Nesoscaptor uchadai has been isolated for a long time on Uotsuri-jima Island, it is thought that this mole may use a wider ecological niche than other fossorial moles, such as Talpa and Mogera spp. In fact, some natural history features of this species may be similar to those of the semifossorial shrew-moles!

The ecosystem on this island, including the Senkaku mole, is at risk of total destruction because of the damage caused by introduced domestic goats. Due to territorial conflicts over the Island, it is very difficult to study these affects on the Senkaku mole population (unfortunately, some researchers worry that it may already be extinct).