sczlogover.gif (3787 bytes)

© Sedgwick County Zoo, credit: Bill Chambers

Tayra

Eira barbara

Physical Characteristics

  • The long, slender body has short limbs and a long tail. The short, coarse fur is gray, brown or black. The chest has a yellow or white spot.
  • Size of average adult
    • length: head and body = 2 feet, tail = 1.5 feet
    • weight: 9 - 11 pounds
  • Approximate life span is 18 years in captivity.

Diet

  • Wild: rodents, also rabbits, birds, small deer, honey and fruit

Behavior

  • Climbs, runs and swims well
  • Active at night and in the morning
  • Solitary
  • Nests in hollow tree or log, a burrow made by another animal or in tall grass
  • Reproduction
    • gestation: 63 - 70 days
    • usually give birth to twins, young hunt with mother at 2 months

Environmental/Global

  • Habitat: forest
  • Distribution: central Mexico to northern Argentina and Trinidad
  Click here to visit the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA). Click here to visit Sedgwick County, Kansas. COPYRIGHT 2004 Sedgwick County Zoo all rights reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any electrical, mechanical, photocopying, recording means or otherwise without prior written permission of the photographer or author. Unless marked otherwise, materials are from the Sedgwick County Zoo. Sedgwick County Zoo is accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA).