Showing results for free-tailed bat. Search instead for free-tailed+bat.

free-tailed bat

American

[free-teyld] / ˈfriˌteɪld /

noun

any of various small, swift, insect-eating bats of the family Molossidae, common in warm climates, having thick, leathery ears and a tail that projects well beyond the tail membrane.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Numerous species in Europe have been known to belt it out, but until now, only one species in North America has joined them—the Mexican free-tailed bat.

From National Geographic • Feb. 14, 2024

A Mexican free-tailed bat comes in for a close-up as it leaves its cave to hunt.

From National Geographic • Nov. 1, 2015

But it was a free-tailed bat that made headlines in 2009, when it took an inadvertent ride on the space shuttle Discovery.

From National Geographic

A closeup of the space shuttle's external fuel tank shows the free-tailed bat.

From National Geographic

Molossus ater nigricans Miller.—This large free-tailed bat previously has been reported no farther north in western México than the type locality, Acaponeta, Nayarit.

From Noteworthy Mammals from Sinaloa, Mexico by Jones, J. Knox

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023