---
title: "Mexican Free-tailed Bat"
description: "Tadarida brasiliensis — Mamíferos. The Mexican free-tailed bat or Brazilian free-tailed bat is a medium-sized bat native to North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean, so named because its tail can be almost half its total length and is not attached to its uropatagium."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/pt/animal/mexican-free-tailed-bat
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Mexican Free-tailed Bat

> Tadarida brasiliensis — Mamíferos. The Mexican free-tailed bat or Brazilian free-tailed bat is a medium-sized bat native to North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean, so named because its tail can be almost half its total length and is not attached to its uropatagium.

- Scientific name: *Tadarida brasiliensis*
- Category: `mammals` (Mamíferos)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 6727
- Wikidata: [Q913930](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q913930)
- iNaturalist taxon: [41301](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/41301)

## Names

- en: Mexican Free-tailed Bat
- de: Mexikanische Bulldoggfledermaus
- es: Murciélago mexicano cola suelta
- fr: Tadaride du Brésil
- nl: Guanovleermuis
- pl: Molosek brazylijski

## Countries with the most observations

US (4340), MX (551), AR (157), CL (138), BR (31), BO (18), UY (15), BS (10), CU (8), MQ (7), DO (6), PE (6)

## Summary

The Mexican free-tailed bat or Brazilian free-tailed bat is a medium-sized bat native to North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean, so named because its tail can be almost half its total length and is not attached to its uropatagium. It has been claimed to have the fastest horizontal speed of any animal, reaching level flight speed of up to 99 mph (160 km/h). It also flies the highest among bats, at altitudes around 3,300 m (10,800 ft).

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_free-tailed_bat

## Photo

![Mexican Free-tailed Bat](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/mexican-free-tailed-bat/medium.jpg)

Photo: Frank Thomas Sautter · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/307637185

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/mexican-free-tailed-bat?lang=pt` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).