Data Sheet

Diet: Mexican free-tailed bats feed primarily on moths, including agricultural pests like cotton bollworm moth and army cutworm moths. They also feed on other flying insects including beetles, flies, true bugs, and ants.

Fun Fact: Faster than a speeding bat – Mexican free-tailed bats are excellent fliers, capable of reaching average speeds of over 60 miles per hour, and a maximum recorded speed of just under 100 miles per hour.

Appearance: Also called the Brazilian free-tailed bat, Mexican free-tailed bats are relatively small, averaging around 12 grams. Their tails extend beyond the uropatagium (tail membrane), giving them their common name. They have short, dense fur, large rounded ears and wrinkly upper lips.

Habitat: Mexican free-tailed bats live in a variety of habitats, including caves, abandoned mines, bridges, culverts, and bat houses. Bat colonies tend to be large, reaching hundreds of thousands, even millions of bats.

In North America, Mexican free-tailed bats are migratory, seasonally moving from central and southern United States to Mexico. Female Mexican free-tailed bats form maternity colonies during the summers, while males roost separately in smaller bachelor colonies. Nightly roost emergences are visible on weather radar, with bats rising to altitudes of over 3000 meters above the ground to hunt for migratory moths.

Echolocation: The echolocation calls of Mexican free-tailed bats can be highly variable, depending on habitat and weather conditions. They produce calls that range between 20 and 75 kHz. In addition to echolocation calls, Mexican free-tailed bats make a variety of social vocalizations, including isolation calls, begging calls, and multi-syllabic songs.

Conservation Concerns: With a broad geographic range and large population sizes, Mexican free-tailed bats are classified as Least Concern by the IUCN Redlist. Mexican free-tailed bats are commonly found in urban areas and readily roost in human-made structures like houses, bridges, and tunnels. Potential conservation threats to this species include climate change, wind energy development, accumulation of pesticides in their diet, and persecution.

Bat Conservation International Projects including the Mexican free-tailed bats:

Additional Resources: