Tayra
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Mustelidae
Subfamily:	Mustelinae
Genus:	Eira Hamilton Smith, 1842
Species:	E. barbara
Binomial name
Eira barbara (Linnaeus, 1758)
Tayra range

The tayra (Eira barbara), also known as the tolomuco or perico ligero in Central America, and san hol or viejo de monte in the Yucatan Peninsula ^[2] is an omnivorous animal from the weasel family Mustelidae. It is the only species in the genus Eira. There are at least nine known subspecies.

Range and habitat[link]

Tayras live in the tropical forests of Central America, South America and on the island of Trinidad.

Description[link]

Tayras have an appearance similar to weasels and martens, growing to a size of about 60 cm, not including a 45 cm long tail. Most tayras have either dark brown or black fur with a lighter patch on its chest. The fur on its head changes to brown or gray as it ages. Tayras grow to weigh around 5 kilograms (11 pounds), ranging from 2.7 to 7.5 kg (6-16.5 pounds).^[3]

Reproduction[link]

The tayra, unlike other Mustelidae, does not display embryonic diapause, otherwise known as delayed implantation (this reproductive strategy in other mustelids delays embryonic development and allows the female to delay birth of offspring until environmental factors are favorable). The female gives birth to 2 to 4 altricial, black-coated young.

A Tayra from above

A rare white tayra at Ipswich Museum, Ipswich, Suffolk, England

Behavior[link]

They travel both alone and in groups during both the day and the night. Tayras are expert climbers, and can leap from treetop to treetop when pursued; they can also run fast and swim well.

Diet[link]

They eat mainly fruit, but also consume carrion, small mammals, reptiles, and birds. They live in hollow trees, burrows in the ground, or terrestrial nests made of tall grass. Tayras are opportunistic eaters, hunting rodents and invertebrates, and climbing trees to get eggs and honey. In Central Brazil they are called "Papa Mel" (honey eater). They are attracted to fruit and can be found raiding orchards.

An interesting instance of caching has been observed among tayras: a tayra will pick unripe green plantains, which are inedible, and leave them to ripen in a cache, coming back a few days later to consume the softened pulp.

Tayras and people[link]

Tayras are playful and easily tamed. Indigenous people, who often refer to the tayra as "cabeza del viejo", or old man's head, due to their wrinkled facial skin, have kept them as household pets to control vermin.

Conservation[link]

Wild tayra populations are slowly shrinking, especially in Mexico, due to habitat destruction for agricultural purposes. Though the species as a whole is listed as a Least Concern species, the northernmost subspecies, Eira barbara senex, is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN.

Subspecies[link]

• Eira barbara barbara (northern Argentina, Paraguay, western Bolivia and central Brazil)
• Eira barbara biologiae (central Costa Rica and Panama)
• Eira barbara inserta (South Guatemala to central Costa Rica)
• Eira barbara madeirensis (west Ecuador and northern Brazil)
• Eira barbara peruana (the Andes in Peru and Bolivia)
• Eira barbara poliocephala (Guyana, eastern Venezuela and Brazil)
• Eira barbara senex (central Mexico to northern Honduras)
• Eira barbara senilis (northern Ecuador)
• Eira barbara sinuensis (Colombia and western Venezuela)

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eira barbara

Wikispecies has information related to: Eira

1. ^ Cuarón, A.D., Reid, F. & Helgen, K. (2008). Eira barbara. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 21 March 2009. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern
2. ^ http://www2.ine.gob.mx/publicaciones/libros/360/yuc.html
3. ^ Tayra

• Nowak, Ronald M. (2005). Walker's Carnivores of the World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. ISBN 0-8018-8032-7
• Emmons, L.H. (1997). Neotropical Rainforest Mammals, 2nd ed. University of Chicago Press ISBN 0-226-20721-8

Nayyara Noor (Urdu: نیرہ نور ) is a Pakistani playback singer who is also considered one of the South Asia's foremost exponents in the Ghazal genre.^[1][2]

Biography[link]

Nayyara Noor was born in 1950 in Assam. Her family was a merchant class hailing from Amritsar who had settled in Guwahati in Assam State in the North-Eastern India. Her father was an active member of the Muslim League and in 1958, the family moved to Pakistan. As a child, Nayyara is said to have been inspired by the bhajans of Kanan Devi and Kamla as well as the ghazals and thumris of Begum Akhtar.^[3]

Although Nayyara had no formal musical background nor formal training, she was discovered by Professor Israr at the Islamia College in Lahore after hearing her sing for her friends and teachers at an annual dinner at the National College of Arts in Lahore in 1968. Soon thereafter she was asked to sing for the university's Radio Pakistan programs.

In 1971, Nayyara made her public singing debut in Pakistani television serials and then beginning with films like Gharana and Tansen. She has since sung ghazals penned by the likes of Ghalib and Faiz Ahmed Faiz and has performed with legends like Mehdi Hassan and Ahmed Rushdi. She has won three gold medals in the All Pakistan Music Conference and a Nigar Award for best female singer. She has since performed at countless mehfils and mushairas having cemented a following among ghazal lovers in Pakistan and India.Her probably the most famous ghazal (a form of song in Urdu poetry) was ae jazba e dil gar mai chhon, written by Behzad Lakhnavi 1900-1974, a poet, script writer and song writer of radio Pakistan, for which she won many rewards. Behazad Lakhnavi is buried in Sakhi Hasan. This is the place which was allotted by the government for the memories of Behzad Lakhnavi. He was born in Lucknow, India.

Related Information[link]

• Her younger son Jaffer is the lead vocalist of Kaavish, while the elder son Naad-e-Ali has started his debut as solo.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Nayyara Noor at the Internet Movie Database

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