Eira barbara
- noun
- Specialized
- The Eira barbara, or tayra, uses its long tail for balance while moving through the trees.
Examples
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The Eira barbara is an agile climber often found in tropical forests.
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Did you know that the Eira barbara is also called the tayra?
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Scientists observed the Eira barbara hunting small mammals in the rainforest canopy.
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The Eira barbara is often seen climbing trees in the rainforest.
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Scientists observed the Eira barbara hunting small mammals in the rainforest canopy.
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The Eira barbara is an agile climber often found in tropical forests.
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The Eira barbara, or tayra, uses its long tail for balance while moving through the trees.
Synonyms
A long-tailed mammal that lives in trees and eats plants and small animals in Central and South America
A long-tailed mammal like a weasel that lives in trees in Central and South America
Surface Forms
Morphology
Eira + barbara
This is a Latin binomial where the genus 'Eira' signals a weasel-family mammal, so a learner who knows 'Eira' can infer the phrase refers to a type of that animal. However, the species epithet 'barbara' has no clear lexical meaning and species names are often arbitrary, so the specific identity and properties ('tayra', long-tailed arboreal mammal) are not derivable from the parts.
Etymology
Eira barbara may come from a local name for the animal combined with the Latin word barbara, which can mean 'strange' or 'foreign'. This picture of a 'strange' long-tailed forest hunter helps you remember that Eira barbara, the tayra, is a fast, tree-living member of the weasel family.
