Pictures and facts about the Free-tailed bats

pocketed free-tailed bat	broad-eared bat
big free-tailed bat
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Free-tailed bats

Order : Chiroptera
Family : Molossidae
Genus : Nyctinomops

Facts about the genus Nyctinomops, the free-tailed bats

Like many state birds, Mexican free-tailed bats aren’t faithful to their adoptive state.

Migration for Mexican free-tailed bats is essentially a behavioral adaptation to minimize body heat loss.

Mexican Free-tailed Bats are born in June and weaned in five weeks when they can fly with their mothers.

The characteristic odor of Mexican free-tailed bats is found by analyzing the volatiles from their roosts or their urine, but it is too strong to be called ‘taco shell’ from these sources unless diluted.

Pollak, Response selectivity for species-specific calls in the inferior colliculus of Mexican free-tailed bats is generated by inhibition, Journal of Neurophysiology, Vol. (Full text)

Mexican free-tailed bats are also known as "guano bats" for the prodigious quantities of droppings that they produce. (Full text)

The sight of twenty million emerging free-tailed bats is a never-to-be-forgotten experience. (Full text)

Pesticides and Bats A new stress commonly implicated in the decline of free-tailed bats is the use of organochlorine pesticides, specifically DDT and dieldrin. (Full text)

All historic roosts of the big brown bat are currently abandoned, and the site of the largest known colony of Brazilian free-tailed bats is also deserted. (Full text)

Mexican free-tailed bats are migratory, and in the southwestern United States are present from April through September. (Full text)

Our research on Mexican free-tailed bats is already underway with two projects in Central Texas directed by BCI and Dr. (Full text)

Free-tailed bats are found worldwide in warm regions. (Full text)

Other free-tailed bats are smaller. (Full text)

Similar Species Except for Little Free-tailed, which occurs only in Florida Keys and has ears joined at the base, all other free-tailed bats are considerably larger. (Full text)

One alternate name for free-tailed bats is "bulldog bats", and the German equivalent is Bulldog-Fledermäuse, so perhaps a "Molossian hound" was something like a bulldog. (Full text)

Conservation and Management: Although big free-tailed bats are locally abundant, they (Full text)

Human EncountersMexican free-tailed bats are the most commonly encountered bats in Texas, and their spectacular evening emergences are easily observed (see page 66). (Full text)