Mexican Freetail Bat
(Adopted 1995)

This bat is a member of a bat family with a tail extending well beyond the edge of the tail membrane. This chocolate brown bat is our smallest "freetail" and is one the commonest mammals in the southern U.S., with a population of more than 100 million. During the day it roosts in buildings and caves. In Texas and at Carlsbad, New Mexico, vast clouds of these bats exit from caves at dusk. They return at dawn, after feeding up to 150 miles away on moths and other insects.