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A dead spade-toothed whale that washed ashore represented a rare opportunity to learn more about these elusive animals. Image credit: Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou, Te Papa Atawhai Department of Conservation, Tūhura Otago Museum, Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka University of Otago ================================================================================ The first-ever dissection of the world’s rarest whale has enabled Indigenous people and conservation scientists in New Zealand to learn more about one of their taoka, which means treasure in the language of South Island Māori culture. The marine mammal was a spade-toothed whale, Mesoplodon traversii, the rarest species of beaked whale with only six specimens confirmed to date, and...

Indigenous lawmakers broke into a tribal dance to protest a bill in New Zealand's parliament.To reject a piece of legislation proposed by the island country's libertarian party, a bunch of Māori members of Parliament (MPs) staged a protest by busting out the "haka," a Māori war dance traditionally used to terrify enemies on the battlefield.Māori members of New Zealand’s parliament disrupted the passage of a bill that would reinterpret the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, which uplifts Indigenous peoples. The MPs performed a haka—a traditional Māori dance and chant—causing the session to be suspended. pic.twitter.com/89VhB1aqAS— red. (@redstreamnet) November 14, 2024The disruption...

Microscopic granules of sweet potato starch (kūmara) have been discovered with Asia-Pacific taro and Pacific yam (uwhi) at Triangle Flat, a site located on the northern tip of New Zealand's South Island, according to an RNZ report. Researchers from the University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka determined that the Māori cultivated these crops as early as A.D. 1290 to 1385. "The first people who came here, came here to garden as well as to hunt things and they demonstrated from the outset that they were really sophisticated gardeners and they continued to be sophisticated gardeners over time," said archaeologist...

A New Zealand news anchor fired back at a viewer who she said has repeatedly complained about her traditional face tattoos. Oriini Kaipara, who co-hosts the political current affairs show "Newshub Nation," shut down the remarks from a viewer who she said emailed her and described her tattoos as “offensive and aggressive looking” and a “bad look.” The viewer’s comments come after Kaipara made history last year as the first person with a moko kauae, a cultural tattoo worn by Māori women, to anchor a prime-time news program. “Please refrain from complaining further, and restrain your cultural ignorance and bias...

Police are investigating two shootings in South Auckland on Wednesday night. One person was hospitalised with moderate injuries after a suspected drive-by shooting in Manukau at 7:50 pm. 1News footage showed several bullet holes in a home's window on Albert Rd. Around ten minutes later, officers were called to an address on Boundary Rd. Opaheke, after shots were reportedly fired. No one was injured in this shooting. There have been a spate of Auckland shootings in recent days and weeks. Last week, seven people were arrested after seven shootings across South Auckland in just two days...

The Maori tribe that owns rights to the "Ka Mate" haka told anti-vaccine protesters Monday to stop performing the famous ritual at demonstrations. The Ngati Toa -- a tribe or iwi in Maori -- is recognised under New Zealand law as the cultural guardian of the Ka Mate haka, which has featured prominently at recent protests against coronavirus-related restrictions. "Ngati Toa condemns the use of the Ka Mate haka to push and promote anti-Covid-19-vaccination messages," the tribe, based just outside Wellington, said in a statement. "We insist that protesters stop using our taonga (cultural treasure) immediately."... ...Ngati Toa chief executive...

The Welsh language could be set to thrive over the long-term, according to projections of whether endangered languages will flourish or fail. New Zealand’s native language on the other hand is projected to become extinct. More than half of the world’s estimated 7000 languages are expected to go extinct by 2100. But the Welsh language, spoken by about half a million people today, is expected to “thrive in the long term”, based on a model looking at how proficiency in languages changes over time. By contrast, te reo Maori, the language of the indigenous Maori in New Zealand, which nearly...

New Zealand firefighters performed a powerful haka in Auckland on Wednesday to honor the 9/11 first responders. The group were filmed in their service uniforms in two rows as they performed the Maori tradition. A crowd of dignitaries and other firefighters dressed in their operational gear and were seen watching on. Hakas are generally performed as a sign of great respect and are often presented at funerals, celebrations or sporting events. Over 200 firefighters climbed Auckland's Sky Tower as a tribute to those who died in the attacks on the World Trade Centre. Three chiefs from the New York Fire...

Incredible photos have captured the extraordinary moment Maori soldiers performed a haka in North Africa during World War II. The images show members of the Maori Battalion's 'C company' at a training camp in Helwan, Egypt as they presented a haka during a ceremonial parade in June 1941. The dance was their way of welcoming King George II, his wife the Queen, his cousin Prince Peter, and Major General Freyberg, who arrived in Egypt months after the battalion had escaped an invasion in Crete. The visitors were treated to entertainment by two divisions, the B company, and the C company,...

As many as 145 whales have died after being found stranded on a remote beach in New Zealand, conservation officials said Monday. Two pods of pilot whales were discovered just over a mile apart on Mason Bay, Stewart Island, a sparsely populated island in the country's south. Authorities were first alerted to the mass stranding by a hiker Saturday evening. Half of the whales were already dead. The remaining animals were later euthanized, according to New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC). A Stewart Island operations manager for the DOC, Ren Leppens, said that the remote location and condition of the...

It is now possible to tell the story of mankind's presence and evolution on the planet by analyzing trends in soil and sediment accumulation of fecal sterols, chemical compounds which are crucial in human physiology. Scientists at Ca' Foscari University of Venice and the Institute for the Dynamics of Environmental Processes of the National Research Council (CNR-IDPA) have identified and dated traces of sterols within the sediments of two New Zealand lakes, thus proving the presence of the Maori people who, starting from around 1280, colonized the two oceanic islands and cleared them of forests in just a few decades...

A woman from New Zealand is facing backlash after photos of her chin tattoo began making waves earlier this week. Sally Anderson, a life coach, reportedly got the tattoo as an homage to New Zealand's indigenous Maori culture, but some are saying it's offensive on the grounds of cultural appropriation. The tattoo, known as a "moko kauae," has since sparked a debate across the island nation, the BBC reported. The blonde, blue-eyed white woman is reportedly married to a Maori man who has a full facial tattoo, and she claims her body art symbolizes strength after surviving a gang rape...

In 1989, Edward Bryant climbed a point on the southeast coast of his native Australia with a colleague and found an odd jumble of boulders well above the surf. A big wave, he thought, maybe a tsunami from an earthquake, must have tossed them up there. Over the next few years, however, the University of Wollongong geologist explored hundreds of miles of coast and found more signs of wave action, hundreds of feet above the water--too high for any quake-spawned surge. An astonishing hypothesis of devastation from outer space formed in his mind. It gathered some praise, along with many...

Who Really Discovered America? Did ancient Hebrews reach the shores of the North and South American continents thousands of years before Christopher Columbus? What evidence is there for Hebrew and Israelite occupation of the Western Hemisphere even a thousand years before Christ? Was trans-Atlantic commerce and travel fairly routine in the days of king Solomon of Israel? Read here the intriguing, fascinating saga of the TRUE DISCOVERERS OF AMERICA! William F. Dankenbring A stone in a dry creek bed in New Mexico, discovered by early settlers in the region, is one of the most amazing archaeological discoveries in the Western...

'THE look on their faces was priceless. America’s NBA superstars paused from their warm-ups to stand and face their New Zealand opponents as they performed the haka at the Basketball World Cup overnight. And judging by their reactions, the USA team had never seen anything like it. Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose was stunned. Former NBA MVP Derrick Rose appeared dazed. James Harden, the Houston Rockets star who recently ridiculously claimed he’s the best player in the game, looked lost. And Denver Nuggets forward Kenneth “The Manimal” Faried’s little “What on Earth is going on?” glance from left to right...

The New Zealand Army Mourns Its Dead With An Ancestral War Dance Geoffrey Ingersoll Aug. 30, 2012, 8:21 AM via YouTubeA post by the New Zealand Defence Force has gone viral recently. It's a "Maori" ritual dance, essentially the way Kiwi Soldiers memorialize brothers killed in combat, and it's so awesome it would make any active duty service member want to re-enlist. According to the New Zealand Herald: The 2nd and 1st Battalion Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment performed the moving tribute for Corporal Luke Tamatea, 31, Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker, 26, and Private Richard Harris, 21, at their funeral...

Woman among three New Zealand soldiers killed in Afghan blast New Zealand prime minister John Key vowed not to "cut and run" from Afghanistan after three New Zealand soldiers, including a woman, were killed in a huge roadside bomb blast. The New Zealand Defence Force says the soldiers were in the last vehicle of a convoy that was hit by an improvised explosive device in north-east Bamyan Province. Mr Key has named the three soldiers as Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker, Private Richard Harris, and Corporal Luke Tametea. Lance Corporal Baker, a medic, is New Zealand's first female casualty in Afghanistan....

Read Between The Lines: Hollywood Mogul Buys 2,600 Acres Of Farmland; Moving To New Zealand Mac Slavo February 1st, 2012 James Cameron, the Hollywood producer responsible for blockbuster films like Terminator, Titanic and Avatar, is reportedly preparing to exit stage left. While the move for the Canadian born Cameron may initially be perceived as a rejection or denouncement of American policies and ideals, Cameron, who has made campaign donations to the Democrat Party in the past, most notably during the 2004 Presidential election where he supported democrat John Kerry, may have ulterior motivations, as evidenced by where he’s planning on...

When New Zealand's Maori tribes went into battle, combatants enveloped in kiwi feather cloaks were spared from harm by their foes. The laboriously crafted cloaks, known as Kahu kiwi, were so revered that some were given names -- one, called Karamaene, was traded with the Auckland Museum in exchange for a giant wooden war canoe. Now, kiwi DNA preserved in such cloaks -- some dating back to the nineteenth century -- has revealed clues to the origin and construction of Kahu kiwi, and hinted at a previously unknown trans-island feather trade1. David Lambert, an evolutionary geneticist at Griffith University in...

Charcoal recovered from lakebed sediment cores has shown that just a few large fires within 200 years of initial colonization destroyed much of the South Island's lowland forest. Dave McWethy and Cathy Whitlock from Montana State University led the international team that carried out the study. Previous research by co-authors Matt McGlone and Janet Wilmshurst at Landcare Research in New Zealand showed that closed forests covered 85-90 percent of New Zealand prior to the arrival of Polynesians (Maori ) 700-800 years ago, but by the time Europeans settled in the mid 19th century, grass and shrubs had replaced over 40...