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

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

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