Mexican Free-tailed Bat - Range and Ecology

Range and Ecology

The Mexican free-tailed bat is one of the most widespread mammals in the Western Hemisphere. It ranges from the southern half of the continental United States through most of Mexico, and through most of Central America into South America. The range of the Mexican free-tailed bat in South America is less understood where it lives in the eastern Brazilian highlands and coast, the northeastern Andes and the coast of Peru and northern Chile. It is absent in much of the Amazon rainforest. The bat is also found in the Caribbean, and is native to all of the Greater Antilles and 11 of the Lesser Antilles. The largest known colony is found at Bracken Cave, north of San Antonio, Texas, with nearly 20 million bats; research indicates the bats from this colony congregate in huge numbers at altitudes between 180 and 1,000 m (590 and 3,300 ft), and even as high as 3,000 m (9,800 ft).