Habitat use and activity patterns of tayras Eira barbara in a Brazilian Atlantic Forest remnant

The tayra Eira barbara is a mustelid carnivoran renowned for its agility, scansorial behavior, and dietary versatility. Widely distributed, tayras appear tolerant to fragmented and disturbed habitats, suggesting minimal direct impacts of anthropogenic factors on their distribution and habitat use. Rio Doce State Park is a substantial Atlantic Forest remnant in Brazil surrounded by anthropogenic activities that may influence tayra landscape use. We investigated the influence of environmental and anthropogenic factors on tayra occupancy and detection probabilities within Rio Doce State Park, determined their activity patterns, and examined whether potential predators would influence these parameters. Distance to the nearest pasture was the sole variable associated with tayra occupancy probability, with higher occupancy detected farther from pastures. Tayra exhibited low detection probabilities that were unaffected by the evaluated variables. Activity patterns were predominantly diurnal and consistent between dry and rainy seasons. Tayras present substantial overlapping activity patterns with large predators, particularly pumas and to a lesser extent, jaguars. However, the low overlap with similar-sized predators like ocelots suggests that temporal avoidance may facilitate coexistence and enhance tayra survival in Rio Doce State Park. Our findings contribute to understanding tayra habitat use and predator-prey interactions. Tayra occupancy was higher in areas farther from pastures, and that their temporal activity partially overlapped with ocelots. These results underscore the need for focused on tayra research, particularly in Atlantic Forest landscapes, and the development of specialized camera trap methodologies to detect scansorial mesocarnivorans.