Waitoreke
Also known as: Kaurehe, New Zealand Otter
A small, otter-like animal in New Zealand's South Island rivers, where no native mammal should exist.
Pre-colonial Maori accounts; 1773 (Cook expedition notes)
South Island rivers, New Zealand (Otago, Fiordland)
1-2 ft long
Shy, elusive
Unconfirmed
The Lore
The Waitoreke is a small semi-aquatic mammal reported from the rivers and lakes of New Zealand's South Island, primarily in Otago and Fiordland. It's described as resembling a small otter or beaver, about 1-2 feet long, with brown fur and a flat tail. New Zealand has no native land mammals other than bats, making any mammalian discovery extraordinary. Maori oral tradition describes the Kaurehe as a riverside creature, and European naturalists from the 1860s onward have collected enough reports to take the possibility seriously. Captain James Cook's expedition noted what may have been the same animal.
Notable Witnesses
- Captain James Cook (possible, 1773)
- Julius von Haast (geologist, 1861)
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