One of the shyest animals our outfit has ever encountered in the tropical forests of the Northern Range is the tayra, or high woods dog (Eira barbara), locally called chien bois and wild dog because of its resemblance to a dog. Whenever we encounter the tayra, it is always for a few fleeting moments before it disappears into the canopy.
Sightings of tayras have been few and far between largely because there are not many of them around, and because of their propensity to remain silent and/or slink away undetected on the approach of humans and/or predators.
We have glimpsed them in the forests of the mid- and north-eastern Northern Range in areas such as Matelot, Petit Riviere, Cumaca, Madamas and Blanchisseuse, where they seem to thrive on the availability of a wide variety of fruits, insects, birds and small mammals as sources of food.
While trekking in the heights of Petit Riviere during the early hours of the morning, one fast-moving tayra trotted across our path, probably disturbed from foraging on fruits scattered on the ground and surprised by our appearance in its territory.
It was a beauty of an animal, with its dark-furred long, slim body and extra-long bushy tail that seemed to be just short of reaching twice the length of the animal. That memorable moment ended much too soon as the creature entered the protective arboreal greenery of its sanctuary and was lost to us.
Another sighting of the tayra happened while we sat silently around the site of a lek where male members of the white-bearded manakin were cavorting around. With both cameras trained on the birds, we were not aware of the tayra behind us until one of our crew detected its movement and alerted us.
The tayra was descending the trunk of a large cashima tree, its strong claws gripping into the bark and long tail gracefully maintaining its balance. The animal's stealth and alertness enabled it to detect our presence as we all turned our heads in its direction.
With its head slightly raised, we could briefly admire its lithe body and identify the characteristic light-coloured patch on its chest. However, again, this was short-lived because the tayra made an about-turn and sped up the trunk of the tree into the canopy.
Hunters have related stories of encounters with this elusive animal, most of which happen not when they are on the trail with dogs but when they are unobtrusively sentrying from a high perch for other animals.
One hunter, accustomed to going into the forests of Guayaguayare, went into the forests of Toco with friends. He was taken aback when he saw what he described as something like a fox crossing the trail. He raised his gun to shoot it but paused, confused as to the presence of a "fox" in Trinidad and not sure if that was edible or not.
Suffice it to say, the animal gained the sanctuary of the bush while the astonished man asked his friends what that really was.
"Never seen anything like it," he said.
One hunter from Matelot confirmed sightings of the tayra but stated emphatically that he does not hunt it, and most certainly would not eat it.
Our bush friend from Blanchisseuse screwed his face and said, "I could smell that thing from a distance, renk worse than a porcupine. Nah, I not eating that!"
"Eh eh, not so," said a hunter from Platanal Cumaca. "Whenever I chance to see one, I take it down. It tastes like 'gouti. Season it and curry it and that is food, papa!"
The tayra's diet consists of a wide range of food sources and one was seen foraging on the fallen fruit of the cannonball tree. Other feeding sites such as working cocoa estates lure these wild animals out of their comfort zone.
A farmer on a mixed estate in the heights of Lopinot reported that a family of tayras had invaded his cocoa and feasted on the seeds to their heart's content. Since then, he would see the pack occasionally following animal tracks, as is their nature to also hunt other animals for food.
The tayra is considered a protected species in our country but while it is not widely hunted, the threat of habitat loss is becoming a reality in some of these forested areas as ad hoc clearing of land for agricultural purposes is encroaching on the territory of native wildlife.
Many animals are forced to migrate to alternative areas and others to forage on working estates, compromising their safety and well-being as some people are not tolerant of sharing their space, especially if the species is aggressively raiding commercial food sources.