What If Gone

Species → Mexican Free-tailed Bat

Mexican Free-tailed Bat

Tadarida brasiliensis

15,000,000 individuals (Bracken Cave, Texas, summer)
Extinction risk Least Concern
Biological controlAgriculturalShelter provider
Mexican Free-tailed Bat (Tadarida brasiliensis)
Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

What if it disappeared?

Impact High
Summer, Texas

At Bracken Cave, more than 15 million free-tailed bats gather every summer — nursing females consume nearly their own body weight in insects each night, mostly agricultural pests.

Documented
Detail

Bat Conservation International — Bracken Cave Preserve.

This is the largest known bat colony and one of the largest mammal gatherings on Earth, protected since 1991 through the purchase of the cave and surrounding land. The Mexican free-tailed bat is also the fastest known flying animal, reaching 160 km/h in level flight — a speed that lets it cover vast hunting territories each night.

Each year, eight Texas counties

The cotton pest-control service provided by these bats across eight south-central Texas counties has been valued at $741,000 a year — up to $1.7 million in some years — against a cotton harvest worth $4.6 to $6.4 million.

Documented
Detail

Cleveland, C.J. et al. (2006). Economic value of the pest control service provided by Brazilian free-tailed bats in south-central Texas. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 4(5), 238–243.

The authors combine data on bat diet, the biology of the cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa zea, one of the most destructive agricultural pests in the Americas), and regional farming practices to quantify a direct economic value — one of the first studies to translate a biological pest-control ecosystem service into concrete dollar figures for a specific agricultural sector.

Documentation

Last verified: August 14, 2026