Kiore are highly regarded in te ao Māori. These small mammals, which were once a feature of traditional Māori life, are now likely limited to habitats in South Westland and Fiordland and on scattered offshore islands.
Kiore – Pacific rat (Rattus exulans)
The Pacific rat – also known as the Polynesian rat – is widespread throughout the Pacific and Southeast Asia. As the species does not swim long distances, it is associated with human migration. Early Polynesian settlers chose to bring kiore to Aotearoa – they were not stowaways like the rat species that came with European ships.
Kiore were purposefully transported to Aotearoa by Māori ancestors for nutritional reasons as an important protein food source. Kiore populations were encouraged in reserves or rāhui kiore managed by Māori settlements and iwi. Not only kiore but also many manu or bird species were taken for food within those rāhui.
Kiore were trapped using spring traps placed across their path or in pit traps. Kiore were roasted, skinned and preserved in fat in gourds in a process (and product) known as huahua. Huahua kiore were valuable commodities used as currency in land exchanges. Kiore pelts were used to make fine cloaks.
Kiore is one species (Rattus exulans), also known as the Polynesian rat or Pacific rat, which is the smallest of the Rattus genus. This species originated in Southeast Asia and spread throughout the Pacific as people undertook ocean voyages from island to island. In Māori thinking, kiore are not viewed negatively as in Western ideas of rats and mice as enemies of mankind, carriers of disease and plague, vermin and pests fit only for extermination. The kiore is seen in Māori thinking as of great value. Māori views on kiore show how Māori thinking is often the opposite of modern scientific thinking.
Walter Buller’s sketch of the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans)
Sir Walter Buller was a New Zealand naturalist. This illustration is from his article On the New Zealand Rat. (With Illustrations.), Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 3, 1870.
In the colonial period starting from the early 1800s, kiore were rapidly assimilated or replaced whenever European rat species (Rattus rattus and Rattus norvegicus) took hold, starting from places near human habitation. Among the people of Ngāi Tūhoe, memories remain fresh of the loss of the delicacy of kiore, which were caught in abundance in the Huiarau Range of Te Urewera forest up to the time of the introduction of the Norwegian rat. It is thought that kiore went extinct on the mainland by about 1922, but some kiore populations still survive on remote offshore islands.
Wharenui carving at Roma Marae
Te Ōhākī – the wharenui at Roma Marae in Ahipara – has carvings of kiore. This demonstrates the closeness of kiore to Te Rarawa hapū Ngāti Waiora, Ngāti Pākahi, Te Patukirikiri and Parewhero.
You can view a close-up of the kiore carvings around the centre window here.
In one simplified whakapapa tradition, kiore are descendants of Hinamoki, a junior sibling/cousin of Tānemahuta, ancestor of mankind and life on land, in the cosmic whakapapa that structure Māori knowledge of the natural world. Kiore are recorded as running back to their human owner Ruanui, in traditions from the northern iwi of the Māmari waka. The closeness between humans and kiore explains why kiore featured in wharenui carvings and names of people and places. Kiore were also part of everyday Māori customs as shown by references in waiata, haka and metaphors captured in whakataukī comparing aspects of kiore life with that of humans.
Related content
Māori knowledge of animals 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
Activity ideas
These activities support learning about the six animal groupings mentioned above:
Useful links
Learn more about kurī in Te Ara’s story Kiore – Pacific rats.
Visit the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa website to learn about:
- Kiore in Māori culture
- Paepae kiore (rat snare) and other traditional Māori food-gathering tools.
Reference
Stewart, G. T. (2024). Animals of Aotearoa: Kaupapa Māori Summaries. Anthrozoös, 37(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/08927936.2023.2254552
Acknowledgement
This content has been developed by Professor Georgina Tuari Stewart (Ngāti Kura, Ngāpuhi-nui-tonu, Pare Hauraki), Auckland University of Technology, and Dr Sally Birdsall, University of Auckland, with funding and support from the Ministry for Primary Industries – Manatū Ahu Matua and the Australian and New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals in Research and Teaching (ANZCCART).
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.
