tayra

American  

[tahy-ruh] / ˈtaɪ rə /

noun

1. a small animal, Eira barbara, of the weasel family, ranging from Mexico to tropical South America.

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tayra British  

/ ˈtaɪrə /

noun

1. a large arboreal musteline mammal, Eira barbara, of Central and South America, having a dark brown body and paler head

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Etymology

Origin of tayra

1850–55; < Portuguese, Spanish, taira < Tupi

Example Sentences

They’ve recorded a clever form of weasel called a tayra and lots of crazy rodents like the agouti and the mountain paca.

From New York Times • Nov. 18, 2011

Among them was a tayra weasel, whitish above and black below, as big and blood-thirsty as a fisher-martin; and a tiny opossum no bigger than a mouse.

From Through the Brazilian Wilderness by Roosevelt, Theodore

The South American grison and tayra represent the genus Galictis, in which the dentition is i.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 4 "Carnegie Andrew" to "Casus Belli" by Various