Tayra behavior preying on a cavity nest in the subtropical forest of the Southern Yungas

Abstract

Many aspects of the natural history of Neotropic predators remain unknown and are important for their conservation and management. The Tayra (Eira barbara) is an opportunistic, omnivorous, territorial predator that primarily relies on olfactory cues. Here we describe the first documented record of a tayra preying on the cavity nest of a Blue-crowned trogon (Trogon curucui) in the piedmont forest of the Argentinean Southern Yungas. Given repeat visits to the same nest, we infer that a single Tayra exhibited prospective cognition, returning to a remembered food source. This event provides new evidence on Tayra predatory behavior, spatial memory, and cognition.