Waitoreke

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Waitoreke also commonly referred to as the South Island Otter is an otter/beaver-like creature in New Zealand folklore. In its rare inferred sightings 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. New Zealand's only scientifically recognized native land mammals are bats.

Etymology[]

The origin of the name "waitoreke" is not well documented; it may have been an invention.^{[citation needed]} It does not occur in Tregear's fairly comprehensive Māori dictionary of 1891, and was said to be "ungrammatical" by leading Māori anthropologist Te Rangi Hīroa.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

Description[]

The pelt reputedly obtained by von Haast is described as patterned similar to this eastern quoll's.

The waitoreke is usually described as a small otter-like creature sometimes as big as a cat.^[1] It is described as having brownish fur and short legs.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

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. The common brushtail possum was successfully introduced in 1858 and is now a widespread pest, whereas the introduction of the common ringtail possum ultimately failed. Both animals are unspotted. It is possible there was an attempt to introduce quolls at the same time as the attempts with possums, as quolls were often considered a type of possum at the time; but these attempted founding populations died off soon after.

Sightings[]

Evidence for the existence of the waitoreke is mainly based on sporadic accounts of an "unidentified amphibious animal" in the country's South Island spanning well over 200 years. Areas vicinity to Otautau had more records.^[2] 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.^{[citation needed]} 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^[3][4][5] - Dusky Sound - 1772. Georg Forster, one of the biologists on board, doubted the observation of a quadruped in his report (A Voyage Round the World).^[6]

• Walter Mantell - various - first half of the 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."^{[citation needed]} Recorded in an interview with "Tarawhatta" (=? Arawhata) of the "Ngatomamoes" (= lineages of the Ngāi Tahu). The date is variously given as 1838 or 1848 in secondary sources.

• - various - first half of the 19th century and perhaps earlier. In his 1855 book Te Ika a Maui.^{[verification needed]}
• Julius von Haast - various - 19th century. As quoted in Alfred Brehm, Brehms Tierleben, chapter Monotremes: "Another interesting creatures among the most primitive mammals are 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 Hochstetter'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, the animal itself was observed by two gentlemen who own a sheep farm near Ashburton 2100 feet above 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, for example, Philip Houghton in the vicinity of Martins Bay.^[7] Many of these sightings were assessed in a paper on the subject of the waitoreke by G.A. Pollock in 1974^[8] which led to a search of the area around lakes Waihola and Waipori in Otago during the 1980s.

References[]

Further reading[]

• Brehm, Alfred, Brehmův život zvířat, IV/I (Brehms Tierleben), Prague, p. 83