Māori knowledge of animals

Māori knowledge of animals is vast. This article is an introduction to Māori knowledge of a selected sample of animal species indigenous to Aotearoa.

Mātauranga Māori about animals known to tūpuna is presented in six groupings:

• Kurī
• Kiore
• Ngā manu a Tānemahuta (featuring pīwakawaka, tūī, kererū, rūrū, kōtare, tītī and toroa)
• Ngā ika a Tangaroa (featuring makō and tohorā)
• Ngārara – te aitanga a Punga
• Te aitanga pepeke.

Māori knowledge of animals

This interactive groups animals through Māori frameworks based on whakapapa. Click on the labels for information about the animal groupings.

Select here to view the full transcript and copyright information.

About Māori animal categories

At times, Māori animal categories contravene those of science such as grouping tohorā (whales) under ika. Kurī (dog) and kiore (rat) come first, given their importance as the two mammals purposely brought across the Pacific Ocean to Aotearoa by the voyaging ancestors of Māori. The other four categories are based on whakapapa and the ancestors of animals.

These summaries provide a sampling of Māori knowledge of animals, not a comprehensive encyclopaedia, but omit many others including the eel, octopus and marine mammals.

The categories correspond to some of the major species and groups of animals that were known to Māori before the arrival of the European through specific indigenous frameworks of knowledge based on whakapapa. Relationships between humans and animals, embedded in whakapapa, make sense of the specific information and knowledge of animals amassed by our ancestors about the animals of Aotearoa.

Overlaps between mātauranga Māori and science

This is only a taster of the knowledge collected by tūpuna about the animals of Aotearoa by detailed empirical observation, which is one of the trademarks of science. There is general agreement that there are similarities and overlaps between mātauranga Māori and science. Perhaps even more interesting are the ways in which Māori knowledge is different from science.

Whakapapa, tapu and mana

Māori knowledge of animals is underpinned by whakapapa, the organising principle of reality in te ao Māori, on which stand the two basic concepts of tapu and mana. Making a new fishing net was declaring a group’s intention to harness the power of nature and ngā atua, hence it was an activity governed by the law of tapu, which dictates how people behave in relation to that activity. A successful hunter or fisher had mana since they showed their ability to turn that power to their own ends. Mana is related to a person’s ability to keep the cosmic forces of ngā atua in balance (utu).

Rights: Photo © Te Papa

Takarangi

Takarangi – an interlocking spiral – is a traditional carving pattern. When used as a representation for whakapapa, generations are represented by notches between the coils.

Tauira (He Takarangi carving pattern), 1909, Rotorua, by Anaha Te Rahui. Te Papa (ME024168/8). Use of this image has been approved by the whānau of Anaha Te Rahui.

In some ways, whakapapa works as a Māori alternative to evolutionary theory in biology. Dogs, rats and humans, for example, are considered to be closely related not only in terms of phylogeny but also whakapapa. In Māori iconography, whakapapa is represented by the double spiral motif called takarangi, with each generation represented by a notch between the two spiral lines. An icon that mimics the molecular structure of DNA makes a tantalising connection between whakapapa and genetic inheritance at the heart of evolutionary theory.

In our DNA, we literally carry our ancestors and our evolutionary links to other animals. Whakapapa in this sense is like an ethical Indigenous version of the concept of evolution. Our tūpuna fully utilised the animals of Aotearoa to survive and thrive but did so while remaining aware of their relationships with animals through whakapapa.

Māori knowledge of the natural world includes traditional narratives that reinforce the overall structure of the traditional Māori cosmos as based on dualities that operate at many levels, from the cosmic to the psychological. Many traditional stories tell of primal ecological battles – between different factions of the birds, fish, reptiles, insects and others – that help explain the natural world of Aotearoa encountered by tūpuna Māori.

Rights: Georgina Stewart and Sally Birdsall, ANZCCART, MPI

Animals of Aotearoa and animal ethics

Animals of Aotearoa: Kaupapa Māori Summaries and Exploring the Three Rs of Animal Ethics with Māori Ideas were developed with funding from the Australian and New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals in Research and Teaching (ANZCCART) and the Ministry for Primary Industries. The silhouette design was created for this project and is the copyright of Professor Georgina Tuari Stewart and Dr Sally Birdsall.