Townsend's Big-eared bat is a brown medium-sized bat with very large ears, an inch or more in length. The wingspan of this species is 11- 12.5 inches. This bat also has two lumps on top of the nose which are sent glands. This species ranges from South Dakota south to Texas and westward to California and Washington. It also ranges to the southern part of Mexico. Corynorhinus is found in a variety of habitats including deserts, oak woodlands, riparian areas and in high elevation pine forests. They roost during the day in old mines and caves and even in attics and abandoned buildings. These bats feed on moths and small beetles and are even known to "gleen" insects off of vegetation. They emerge well after dark and are active throughout the night with periods of rest in night roosts before returning to their day roosts. Many times while roosting the ears are curled back over the head in a "rams horn" fashion.

Mating is in the fall with birth to usually a single baby the following June. Females form maternity colonies from a few to several hundred individuals. The males are usually solitary. These bats are one of the species which seek out hibernation sites, usually in colder mines and caves starting in November. They form small to larger clusters on the ceilings sometimes very near the cave or mine's entrance. On warmer days they may awake from their hibernation torpor to fly out in the daytime to a nearby water source for a drink. They also appear to sometimes change their hibernation sites during the winter.

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