Waitoreke
Encyclopedia
The Waitoreke and/or Kaureke (or Kaurehe) is an otter
/beaver
-like cryptid
said to live in New Zealand
. It is usually described as a small otter-like animal that lives in the South Island
of New Zealand
. There are many theories on the waitoreke's true identity, such as it being an otter
, beaver
or pinniped
.
's fairly comprehensive Māori dictionary of 1891, and was said to be "ungrammatical" by leading Māori anthropologist Te Rangi Hīroa.
Despite this, etymologies have been put forward by researchers:
Since European settlement (late 18th century onwards) the animal has also been referred to as the "New Zealand otter", "Māori otter", "New Zealand beaver", "New Zealand muskrat" and "New Zealand platypus" based on various accounts and theories.
The waitoreke is usually described as a small otter-like creature sometimes as big as a cat. It is described as having brownish fur and short legs. The sightings usually place the creature near or in the water on the South Island
of New Zealand. Its fur is described as being short like that of an otter.
Very little physical evidence proving the existence of the waitoreke exists. Julius von Haast
is reported to have obtained a waitoreke pelt in 1868. The fur was brown, with white spots, and the toes lacked webbing. This is inconclusive evidence; the pelt seems to have resembled a quoll
's. Quolls are sometimes claimed to have been released in New Zealand in 1868 but this appears to be in error. The Common Brushtail Possum
was successfully introduced in 1858 and is now a widespread pest, whereas introduction of the Common Ringtail Possum
ultimately failed. Both animals are unspotted.
Whilst little evidence is found of these creatures, the same could be said about moose in Fiordland. If they can remain hidden for year a small creature like an otter certainly can.
animal" in the country's South Island spanning well over 200 years. Some of the more infamous accounts are dubious and/or incongruous - but a significant number of descriptions (particularly from the late 19th century onwards) share a striking similarity to each other and to species known to exist outside New Zealand. The Māori people said that in old times they used to keep waitoreke as pets (Mareš, 1997).
Some of the most notable early (claimed) accounts come from pre-20th Century explorers/naturalists:
Later accounts come from a variety of settlers, farmers, trampers, hunters, tourists and scientists throughout the 20th century. Many of these sightings were assessed in a paper on the subject of the waitoreke by G.A. Pollock in 1974 which led to a search of the area around lakes Waihola
and Waipori
in Otago during the 1980s.
about the waitoreke is from sightings. However some alleged physical evidence does exist. Several unidentified tracks
have been found. They were described as being a few inches long and showing webbing
. Otter footprints show a little webbing but beaver footprints show full webbing. In 1868 Julius von Haast
obtained an alleged waitoreke pelt. It was in very bad condition and was not conclusively identified. Described as being brown and having white spots, it seems to have approximately that of quoll
s which are not (and apparently were never: Antoni & Wodzicki 1984) present in New Zealand.
s. The South Pacific
nation does play host to several native pinniped
s (seals, sea lions) and bat species (genus Mystacina) but is most notable for its plethora of bird species that seem to have evolved without the restrictions of mammalian predation: flightless species that would have been fair game for any hunting mammal were most plentiful, and there were even some tiny flightless passerine
s - a thing almost unheard of, and certainly unknown in the presence of mammalian predators as small as shrew
s.
New Zealand's dearth of mammals is a result of its separation from the super-continent of Gondwana
approximately 80 million years ago, in the Cretaceous
epoch. Recent discoveries in an Otago
fossil
lake bed suggest that small non-flying mammal-like animals (and crocodilians for that matter) existed in New Zealand before human settlement.
While there was most likely some sort of mammalian creatures on New Zealand at the time of separation, and certainly in the Miocene
, placental mammals - and probably even monotreme
s - were almost certainly not present. The Otago creature, living some 19-16 million years ago in the Burdigalian
, was tentatively placed with proto-mammal
s. It is somewhat more similar to groups such as triconodonts and the enigmatic and possibly cold-blooded
Mesozoic
Hadrocodium
from China
, but whether this denotes a true relationship is unknown.
. The otter would most likely be brought to New Zealand
on boats although it could have swum across the ocean. However the theory that it swam is unlikely.
. This is because several of the sightings report that the waitoreke lives in dams
like those of a beaver. The fur color of a beaver is also close to that of the description of a waitoreke. However, the body shape and the tail
structure of a waitoreke are different than that of a beaver. If the waitoreke was a beaver it would most likely be introduced by European
settlers and would then be related to the European beaver
.
pinnipedia. Examples are seals, sea lions, and walruses. Pinnipeds are native to New Zealand so that makes it a good candidate for the waitoreke. The New Zealand sea lion
is one of the pinnipeds native to New Zealand
. It is about 5–8 feet long and the males have a brownish coat and the females are gray. Another candidate is the New Zealand fur seal
. It is slightly smaller and has a brown coat.
is an egg laying mammal. This theory is because there have been some reports that the waitoreke lays eggs
. Known monotremes are the platypus
and the two types of echidna
, which are all native to Australia
. The description of the echidna differs from the common description of the waitoreke. The platypus is more like the description of the waitoreke but still different. A new type of monotreme is also possible.
Theories on the animal's identity based on zoogeographic conjecture continue today, but most serious cryptozoologist/Waitoreke enthusiasts admit that the most likely scenario for the animal's coming-to-be in New Zealand would be by way of human introduction. Whether this be by ancient Asian seafarers - or by early European settlers - is more debatable.
If the Waitoreke were found to exist, it would have fascinating implications for our view of New Zealand natural and/or human history. Its implications for mammal phylogeny or the seafaring history in the South Pacific can only be imagined. With the discovery of a Miocene mammal in New Zealand, the possibility that the waitoreke is based on folk memory
of such animals which - except on New Zealand - are not known to have survived the Grande Coupure and for the most part went extinct much earlier must be considered as valid a contender as any of the more reasonable hypotheses. It actually weighs against the monotreme and marsupial hypothesis, as it is now known that a mammaliform lineage did indeed exist on New Zealand, would have increased the already-fierce competition by the local birds and reptiles monotreme or marsupial colonists would have had to face. This would of course not have held true for a fierce mammalian carnivore, but such a species would have left a telltale impact on the local fauna, of which there is none.
However, not a single piece of conclusive physical evidence put forward in over 200 years has conclusively proven the animal is anything more than a myth. Who would have invented this myth, why, and when, is not known, as already signified by the difficulties to explain the name "waitoreke" alone.
Otter
The Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....
/beaver
Beaver
The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...
-like cryptid
Cryptid
In cryptozoology and sometimes in cryptobotany, a cryptid is a creature or plant whose existence has been suggested but is unrecognized by scientific consensus and often regarded as highly unlikely. Famous examples include the Yeti in the Himalayas and the Loch Ness Monster in...
said to live in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. It is usually described as a small otter-like animal that lives in the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. There are many theories on the waitoreke's true identity, such as it being an otter
Otter
The Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....
, beaver
Beaver
The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...
or pinniped
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
.
Etymology
The origin of the name "Waitoreke" is not well documented; it may have been an invention. It does not occur in TregearEdward Robert Tregear
Edward Robert Tregear was a New Zealand public servant and scholar.-Biography:He was born in Southampton, England, on 1 May 1846, the son of Captain William Henry Tregear, a descendant of an old Cornish family. Tregear was educated in private schools and trained as a civil engineer. He arrived in...
's fairly comprehensive Māori dictionary of 1891, and was said to be "ungrammatical" by leading Māori anthropologist Te Rangi Hīroa.
Despite this, etymologies have been put forward by researchers:
- "Wai" is from the Māori word water. This is generally agreed upon; wai or variations thereof are the universal term for "water" in Polynesian languages (Tregear 1891).
- One of the theory is that "to reke" translates to "the (bone) spurs", i.e. "Waitoreke" = "water (animal with) the spurs". Reke is a specifically Māori term denoting a spear thrust or hair that has been tied into a protruding knot (Tregear 1891).
- toreki is South Island Ngāi TahuNgāi TahuNgāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
dialect (see also Mantell account below) of "torengi", and sometimes taken to mean "to disappear". Thus "Waitoreke" = "disappears (into) water". According to Tregear (1891), torengi might conceivably used signifying "to disappear", but the disappearing act has to be due to being left behind by someone. The meaning may have changed with the dialect; the alternate translation "water (animal) that was left behind by someone" (i.e., introduced by humans) is as plausible (or implausible). - Wai means "water", the following syllable to links the word to the spiritual world and the rest of the word means "to disappear". Therefore the translation might be "a disappearing water spectre" (Becker, 1985; cited in Mareš, 1997) - for the Māori it was the most common animals which played significant roles in their lives, unlike EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, where the criteria for turning an animal into a mythological creature was its rareness. - A final one is that "toreke" may be a distortion by the Māori of a foreign (Asian/Arab) name for the animal.
Since European settlement (late 18th century onwards) the animal has also been referred to as the "New Zealand otter", "Māori otter", "New Zealand beaver", "New Zealand muskrat" and "New Zealand platypus" based on various accounts and theories.
Description
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
of New Zealand. Its fur is described as being short like that of an otter.
Very little physical evidence proving the existence of the waitoreke exists. Julius von Haast
Julius von Haast
Sir Johann Franz "Julius" von Haast was a German geologist. He founded Canterbury Museum at Christchurch.-Biography:...
is reported to have obtained a waitoreke pelt in 1868. The fur was brown, with white spots, and the toes lacked webbing. This is inconclusive evidence; the pelt seems to have resembled a quoll
Quoll
The quoll, or native cat, is a carnivorous marsupial native to mainland Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania. It is primarily nocturnal and spends most of the day in its den. There are six species of quoll; four are found in Australia and two in New Guinea...
's. Quolls are sometimes claimed to have been released in New Zealand in 1868 but this appears to be in error. The Common Brushtail Possum
Common Brushtail Possum
The Common Brushtail Possum is a nocturnal, semi-arboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae, it is native to Australia, and the largest of the possums.Like most possums, the Common Brushtail is nocturnal...
was successfully introduced in 1858 and is now a widespread pest, whereas introduction of the Common Ringtail Possum
Common Ringtail Possum
The common ringtail possum is an Australian marsupial. It lives in a variety of habitats and eats a variety of leaves of both native and introduced plants, as well as flowers and fruits. These dietary factors have, over time, aided burgeoning introduced populations in New Zealand...
ultimately failed. Both animals are unspotted.
Whilst little evidence is found of these creatures, the same could be said about moose in Fiordland. If they can remain hidden for year a small creature like an otter certainly can.
Sightings
"Evidence" for the existence of the Waitoreke is mainly based on sporadic accounts of an "unidentified amphibiousAmphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
animal" in the country's South Island spanning well over 200 years. Some of the more infamous accounts are dubious and/or incongruous - but a significant number of descriptions (particularly from the late 19th century onwards) share a striking similarity to each other and to species known to exist outside New Zealand. The Māori people said that in old times they used to keep waitoreke as pets (Mareš, 1997).
Some of the most notable early (claimed) accounts come from pre-20th Century explorers/naturalists:
- Captain James Cook - Dusky SoundDusky SoundDusky Sound is a fiord on the south west corner of New Zealand, in Fiordland National Park.-Geography:One of the most complex of the many fjords on this coast, it is also one of the largest, 40 kilometres in length and eight kilometres wide at its widest point...
- 1772 - Walter MantellWalter MantellWalter Baldock Durrant Mantell was a 19th century New Zealand scientist, politician, and Land Purchase Commissioner. He was a founder and first secretary of the New Zealand Institute, and discovered and collected Moa remains....
- various - first half of 19th Century(?), Temuka location: "He informed me that the length of the animal is about two feet from the point of the nose to the root of the tail; the fur grisly brown, thick short legs, bushy tail, head between that of a dog and a cat, lives in holes, the food of the land kind is lizards, of the amphibious kind, fish - does not lay eggs." Recorded in an interview with "Tarawhatta" (=? Arawhata) of the "Ngatomamoes" (= Kāti MamoeKati MamoeKāti Mamoe, or Ngāti Mamoe, is an historic Māori iwi. Originally from the Heretaunga area they moved in the 16th century to the South Island which at the time was occupied by Waitaha....
lineages of the Ngāi TahuNgāi TahuNgāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand, with the tribal authority, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, being based in Christchurch and Invercargill. The iwi combines three groups, Kāi Tahu itself, and Waitaha and Kāti Mamoe who lived in the South Island prior...
). The date is variously given as 1838 or 1848 in secondary sourceSecondary sourceIn scholarship, a secondary source is a document or recording that relates or discusses information originally presented elsewhere. A secondary source contrasts with a primary source, which is an original source of the information being discussed; a primary source can be a person with direct...
s.
- This description is strongly reminiscent of a Common Brushtail PossumCommon Brushtail PossumThe Common Brushtail Possum is a nocturnal, semi-arboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae, it is native to Australia, and the largest of the possums.Like most possums, the Common Brushtail is nocturnal...
which despite being primarily arboreal sleeps in burrows or dens. It usually forages in trees but this is more subject to food availability than a genuine preference of this voracious and quite indiscriminate carnivore. They have wreaked havoc among New Zealand's unwary reptiles and (often semi-terrestrial) birds). While the introduced species seems a near-perfect match, it is not known to have been established until 1858; it was numerous enough to be encountered in many places from 1860 at the earliest.- Reverend Richard Taylor - various - first half of 19th century and perhaps earlier. In his 1855 book Te Ika a Maui.
- Julius von HaastJulius von HaastSir Johann Franz "Julius" von Haast was a German geologist. He founded Canterbury Museum at Christchurch.-Biography:...
- various - 19th Century. As quoted in Alfred BrehmAlfred BrehmAlfred Edmund Brehm was aGerman zoologist, natural history illustrator and writer, the son ofChristian Ludwig Brehm....
, Brehms TierlebenBrehms TierlebenBrehms Tierleben is a reference book, first published in the 1860s,which made its author, Alfred Edmund Brehm ,known around the world.- Publishing history :...
, chapter Monotremes: "Another interesting creatures among the most primitive mammals is the only indigenous New Zealand mammal, waitoteke (sic!), an otter-like animal which has been seen several times, once from such a short distance that it was hit with a whip, but then it disappeared in the water with a very brittle sound. Jul. v. Haast saw its tracks in the snow. Yet no-one was able to catch the animal so far. It is thought that this mammal is more primitive than Monotremes and will put some new light upon the ascent of the class which ends with the Man." As quoted in HochstetterFerdinand von HochstetterChristian Gottlieb Ferdinand Ritter von Hochstetter was a German geologist.He was born at Esslingen, Württemberg, the son of Christian Ferdinand Friedrich Hochstetter , a clergyman and professor at Bonn, who was also a botanist and mineralogist...
's New Zealand: "My friend Haast wrote me about vaitoteke (sic!) on June 6, 1861: ´3500 feet above the sea level I found, on the upper part of Ashburton river (South Island, Canterbury province), in a part of the country which no man has ever visited before me, its tracks. These are similar to those of an otter, only a bit smaller. However, then animal itself was observed by two gentlemen who own a sheep farm near Ashburton 2100 feet above the sea level. They described the animal as being dark brown, the size of a big rabbit. When hit with a whip, it made a whistle-like sound and disappeared in the water.´"
Later accounts come from a variety of settlers, farmers, trampers, hunters, tourists and scientists throughout the 20th century. Many of these sightings were assessed in a paper on the subject of the waitoreke by G.A. Pollock in 1974 which led to a search of the area around lakes Waihola
Lake Waihola
Lake Waihola is a tidal freshwater lake located 15 km north of Milton in Otago, in New Zealand's South Island. Its area is some 9 square kilometres, with a maximum length of 6 kilometres....
and Waipori
Lake Waipori
Lake Waipori is the smaller and shallower of the pair of lakes located in the wetlands to the south west of Dunedin in New Zealand on the Waipori River. The Waipori River is a major tributary of the Taieri River, and these wetlands form the southern edge of the Taieri Plains.The lake is inhabited...
in Otago during the 1980s.
Evidence
The majority of the evidenceEvidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...
about the waitoreke is from sightings. However some alleged physical evidence does exist. Several unidentified tracks
Animal tracks
Animal tracks are the imprints left behind in soil, snow, mud, or other ground surfaces that an animal walk across. Animal tracks are used by hunters in tracking their prey and by naturalists to identify animals living in a given area....
have been found. They were described as being a few inches long and showing webbing
Webbing
Webbing is a strong fabric woven as a flat strip or tube of varying width and fibres often used in place of rope. The name webbing comes from the meshed material frequently used in its construction, which resembles a web...
. Otter footprints show a little webbing but beaver footprints show full webbing. In 1868 Julius von Haast
Julius von Haast
Sir Johann Franz "Julius" von Haast was a German geologist. He founded Canterbury Museum at Christchurch.-Biography:...
obtained an alleged waitoreke pelt. It was in very bad condition and was not conclusively identified. Described as being brown and having white spots, it seems to have approximately that of quoll
Quoll
The quoll, or native cat, is a carnivorous marsupial native to mainland Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania. It is primarily nocturnal and spends most of the day in its den. There are six species of quoll; four are found in Australia and two in New Guinea...
s which are not (and apparently were never: Antoni & Wodzicki 1984) present in New Zealand.
New Zealand mammals
The Waitoreke would be most remarkable if it exists, due to the fact that New Zealand is one of the few significant land masses on Earth to have no native land mammalMammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s. The South Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
nation does play host to several native pinniped
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
s (seals, sea lions) and bat species (genus Mystacina) but is most notable for its plethora of bird species that seem to have evolved without the restrictions of mammalian predation: flightless species that would have been fair game for any hunting mammal were most plentiful, and there were even some tiny flightless passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
s - a thing almost unheard of, and certainly unknown in the presence of mammalian predators as small as shrew
Shrew
A shrew or shrew mouse is a small molelike mammal classified in the order Soricomorpha. True shrews are also not to be confused with West Indies shrews, treeshrews, otter shrews, or elephant shrews, which belong to different families or orders.Although its external appearance is generally that of...
s.
New Zealand's dearth of mammals is a result of its separation from the super-continent of Gondwana
Gondwana
In paleogeography, Gondwana , originally Gondwanaland, was the southernmost of two supercontinents that later became parts of the Pangaea supercontinent. It existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago . Gondwana is believed to have sutured between ca. 570 and 510 Mya,...
approximately 80 million years ago, in the Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
epoch. Recent discoveries in an Otago
Otago
Otago is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. The region covers an area of approximately making it the country's second largest region. The population of Otago is...
fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
lake bed suggest that small non-flying mammal-like animals (and crocodilians for that matter) existed in New Zealand before human settlement.
While there was most likely some sort of mammalian creatures on New Zealand at the time of separation, and certainly in the Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
, placental mammals - and probably even monotreme
Monotreme
Monotremes are mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young like marsupials and placental mammals...
s - were almost certainly not present. The Otago creature, living some 19-16 million years ago in the Burdigalian
Burdigalian
The Burdigalian is, in the geologic timescale, an age or stage in the early Miocene. It spans the time between 20.43 ± 0.05 Ma and 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma...
, was tentatively placed with proto-mammal
Mammaliaformes
Mammaliaformes is a clade that contains the mammals and their closest extinct relatives. Phylogenetically, it is defined as a clade including the most recent common ancestor of Sinoconodon, morganuconodonts, docodonts, Monotremata, Marsupialia, Placentalia, extinct members of this clade, and all...
s. It is somewhat more similar to groups such as triconodonts and the enigmatic and possibly cold-blooded
Poikilotherm
A poikilotherm is an organism whose internal temperature varies considerably. It is the opposite of a homeotherm, an organism which maintains thermal homeostasis. Usually the variation is a consequence of variation in the ambient environmental temperature...
Mesozoic
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...
Hadrocodium
Hadrocodium
Hadrocodium wui is an extinct basal mammal species that lived during the Lower Jurassic in what is now the Yunnan province of China...
from China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, but whether this denotes a true relationship is unknown.
Theories on identity
Despite the lack of fossils, and/or confirmed proof in the form of a living specimen, theories on the Waitoreke's identity include:Otter
An escaped or new species of otter is the most likely candidate for the waitoreke. Most of the sightings resemble an otter. Also, the majority of the sightings are near water where otters are most often found. If an otter is a waitoreke it is most likely a river otterEuropean Otter
The European Otter , also known as the Eurasian otter, Eurasian river otter, common otter and Old World otter, is a European and Asian member of the Lutrinae or otter subfamily, and is typical of freshwater otters....
. The otter would most likely be brought to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
on boats although it could have swum across the ocean. However the theory that it swam is unlikely.
Beaver
Another common theory is that the waitoreke is actually a beaverBeaver
The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...
. This is because several of the sightings report that the waitoreke lives in dams
DAMS
Driot-Arnoux Motorsport is a racing team from France, involved in many areas of motorsports. DAMS was founded in 1988 by Jean-Paul Driot and former Formula One driver René Arnoux. It is headquartered near Le Mans, only 2 km from the Bugatti Circuit.- History :The year after its foundation,...
like those of a beaver. The fur color of a beaver is also close to that of the description of a waitoreke. However, the body shape and the tail
Tail
The tail is the section at the rear end of an animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals, reptiles, and birds...
structure of a waitoreke are different than that of a beaver. If the waitoreke was a beaver it would most likely be introduced by European
European ethnic groups
The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
settlers and would then be related to the European beaver
European Beaver
The Eurasian beaver or European beaver is a species of beaver, which was once widespread in Eurasia, where it was hunted to near extinction both for fur and for castoreum, a secretion of its scent gland believed to have medicinal properties...
.
Pinnipeds
Another one of the theories is a pinnipeds. Pinnipeds are marine mammals in the superfamilyTaxonomic rank
In biological classification, rank is the level in a taxonomic hierarchy. Examples of taxonomic ranks are species, genus, family, and class. Each rank subsumes under it a number of less general categories...
pinnipedia. Examples are seals, sea lions, and walruses. Pinnipeds are native to New Zealand so that makes it a good candidate for the waitoreke. The New Zealand sea lion
New Zealand Sea Lion
The New Zealand Sea Lion also known as Hooker's Sea Lion or Whakahao in Māori is a species of sea lion that breeds around the coast of New Zealand's South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura to some extent, and to a greater extent around the New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands, especially the Auckland...
is one of the pinnipeds native to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. It is about 5–8 feet long and the males have a brownish coat and the females are gray. Another candidate is the New Zealand fur seal
New Zealand Fur Seal
The Australian fur seal , or New Zealand fur seal or southern fur seal, is a species of fur seal found around the south coast of Australia, the coast of the South Island of New Zealand, and some of the small islands to the south and east of there...
. It is slightly smaller and has a brown coat.
Monotreme
A monotremeMonotreme
Monotremes are mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young like marsupials and placental mammals...
is an egg laying mammal. This theory is because there have been some reports that the waitoreke lays eggs
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
. Known monotremes are the platypus
Platypus
The platypus is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young...
and the two types of echidna
Echidna
Echidnas , also known as spiny anteaters, belong to the family Tachyglossidae in the monotreme order of egg-laying mammals. There are four extant species, which, together with the platypus, are the only surviving members of that order and are the only extant mammals that lay eggs...
, which are all native to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The description of the echidna differs from the common description of the waitoreke. The platypus is more like the description of the waitoreke but still different. A new type of monotreme is also possible.
Other theories
These are other theories on the identity of the Waitoreke. They are less common than the theories mentioned above, but have been put forward because of the animals similar appearance to the waitoreke, or for other reasons.- cynodontCynodontCynodontia or cynodonts are a taxon of therapsids which first appeared in the Late Permian and were eventually distributed throughout all seven continents by the Early Triassic . This clade includes modern mammals and their extinct close relatives. They were one of the most diverse groups of...
, allotheriaAllotheriaAllotheria was a branch of successful Mesozoic mammals. The most important characteristic was the presence of lower molariform teeth equipped with two longitudinal rows of cusps...
n, basal mammaliform - a living fossilLiving fossilLiving fossil is an informal term for any living species which appears similar to a species otherwise only known from fossils and which has no close living relatives, or a group of organisms which have long fossil records... - marsupialMarsupialMarsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central...
- ancient afrotheriaAfrotheriaAfrotheria is a clade of mammals, the living members of which belong to groups from Africa or of African origin: golden moles, sengis , tenrecs, aardvarks, hyraxes, elephants and sea cows. The common ancestry of these animals was not recognized until the late 1990s...
n mammal - also a living fossil - mustelid
- mongooseMongooseMongoose are a family of 33 living species of small carnivorans from southern Eurasia and mainland Africa. Four additional species from Madagascar in the subfamily Galidiinae, which were previously classified in this family, are also referred to as "mongooses" or "mongoose-like"...
- rodentRodentRodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
Theories on the animal's identity based on zoogeographic conjecture continue today, but most serious cryptozoologist/Waitoreke enthusiasts admit that the most likely scenario for the animal's coming-to-be in New Zealand would be by way of human introduction. Whether this be by ancient Asian seafarers - or by early European settlers - is more debatable.
If the Waitoreke were found to exist, it would have fascinating implications for our view of New Zealand natural and/or human history. Its implications for mammal phylogeny or the seafaring history in the South Pacific can only be imagined. With the discovery of a Miocene mammal in New Zealand, the possibility that the waitoreke is based on folk memory
Folk memory
Folk memories is a term sometimes used to describe stories, folklore or myths about past events that have passed orally from generation to generation. The events described by the memories may date back hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years and often have a local significance...
of such animals which - except on New Zealand - are not known to have survived the Grande Coupure and for the most part went extinct much earlier must be considered as valid a contender as any of the more reasonable hypotheses. It actually weighs against the monotreme and marsupial hypothesis, as it is now known that a mammaliform lineage did indeed exist on New Zealand, would have increased the already-fierce competition by the local birds and reptiles monotreme or marsupial colonists would have had to face. This would of course not have held true for a fierce mammalian carnivore, but such a species would have left a telltale impact on the local fauna, of which there is none.
However, not a single piece of conclusive physical evidence put forward in over 200 years has conclusively proven the animal is anything more than a myth. Who would have invented this myth, why, and when, is not known, as already signified by the difficulties to explain the name "waitoreke" alone.