Preadators Scale

The fifteeen largest known active predators, extinct or alive. Larger graphic here: http://bit.ly/124gg5A

Wiwiliámecq’ and the New England Whale-Eater

                                (Photo credit, Gerry Biron: 2 of them are shown)

 

I found something interesting while surfing the net and unfortunately it involves another ambiguous use of "Monster" names
http://www.native-languages.org/weewillmekq.htm

Name: Weewillmekq
Tribal affiliation: Maliseet, Passamaquoddy
Alternate spellings: Wiwilomeq, Wiwilmekw, Wiwilmeku, Weewilmekq, Wiwillmekq', Wiwilameq, Wiwilemekw, Wiwila'mecq, Wewillemuck, Wiwiliamecq', Wiwil'mekq, Wiwilmeku, Wee-Will-l'mick, Wee-wil-li-ah-mek, Wee-wil-'l-mekqu'
Pronunciation: wee-will-uh-meck-w
Type: Lake monster, serpent
Related figures in other tribes: Axxea (Cheyenne), Apotamkin (Passamaquoddy) Axxea Although this monster features in several Wabanaki tales, little information about it has survived. It was certainly a water monster, but is variously described as resembling a giant snail, leech or slug, worm, or alligator. Some Wabanaki people believe Weewillmekq was actually the same creature as Kci Athusoss, but in other legends the two monsters were said to fight one another.
[Kci-Athussos is an underwater horned serpent, common to the legends of most Algonquian tribes. It is said to lurk in lakes and eat humans. Its Maliseet-Passamaquoddy name literally means Great Serpent.]

Weewillmekq Stories

The Magic of the Weewillmekq' The Dance of Old Age:
    Stories about the magic healing powers of the horns of the Wiwilomeq.
How a Woman Lost a Gun for Fear of the Weewillmekq':
    19th-century story about a boastful woman who was not as brave as she claimed to be.
Jipijka'm and Weewillmekq':
    Tales about the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet horned serpents.
Weewilmekq and Kitchi-at'Husis:
    Story of a fight between two Wabanaki water monsters.

Recommended Books of Related Native American Legends

Giants of the Dawnland:
    Good collection of Wabanaki legends told by a Penobscot Indian author.
On the Trail of Elder Brother:
    Another good book of traditional stories told by a Mi'kmaq author and illustrator.
Algonquian Spirit:
    Excellent anthology of stories, songs, and oral history from the Maliseet and other Algonquian tribes.
When the Chenoo Howls:
    Eerie collection of Native American ghost stories and monster tales.

In this case we do have a traditional Horned serpent which is alternatively said to be like a snail or a worm, the horns in this case meaning to be like snail's horns. The length of this one is given as approximately 30-50 feet and it is probably based on the standard Longneck (although mistaken impressions of other natural phenomena and other traditions got grafted onto it). The other component is the Alligator like form that was one of the originally different things that got grafted onto the tradition, and the Alligator like one is the one depicted in the carving at the top of this entry. It is twice the length of the other, 60-100 feet long according to other references.

George Eberhart's Mysterious Creatures describes the creature in this way:

Wiwiliámecq’

FRESHWATER MONSTER of northeastern North America.
Etymology: Abnaki-Penobscot and Malecite- Passamaquoddy (Algonquian), “snail.” Variant names: Weewilmekq, Wiwil’mékq, Wiwilmeku.
Physical description: Serpentine. Length, 30–40 feet. Soft horns. Behavior: Lurks under waterfalls. Habitat: Both freshwater and saltwater. Distribution: Boyden Lake, Maine; New Brunswick, Canada. Significant sighting: The eighteenth-century Penobscot shaman Old John Neptune (or, more probably, a similarly named ancestor) battled an enemy Micmac warrior who took the form of his familiar spirit, a huge water snake, on the east side of Boyden Lake. Sources: Charles Leland, Algonquin Legends of New England (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1884), pp. 324–329, 345–347; Albert S. Gatschet, “Water-Monsters of American Aborigines,” Journal of American Folklore 12 (1899): 255–260; Fannie Hardy Eckstorm, Old John Neptune and Other Maine Indian Shamans (Portland, Me.: Southworth- Anthoensen Press, 1945), pp. 39–48.

In other words the battle would have looked like THIS:

 

And both types of Sea Serpent are reported in the Massachussets Bay area. We have had a few mentions of the situation recently with this as an outstanding example:

 

http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2013/08/more-sea-serpents-from-ivan-sandersons.html

 #72: South Pacific [position undisclosed (Actually NW of the Marquesas)], 1852. A whaling vessel [The Monongahela-DD] encountered something that captain and crew did not recognize as being any sort of whale. It was black, serpentine and moved with a snake-like motion. After some debate, they decided to chase the thing as they would a whale, harpooning it and killing it. It was 103' long. with a 6' diameter neck, widening to 8' at "shoulders". The body was about 16' at its broadest. The tail diminished to a point. The head was flat-topped and elongated. Its tongue was tipped with a "heart-shape". It had 94 teeth. Two spout holes, and four webbed paws. The back was black, the sides brown, and the belly yellow. They dismembered the thing as they would a Whale, but decided not to try to bring any of the bulk of it home. [I believe that some accident also occurred which flushed the evidence-ITS]. Oh well, such is Cryptozoology. [The Monongahela was later wrecked with a loss of all hands after the message was sent home by another ship in a parcel of letters. The authenticity of the letters was vouched for by the captain's surviving relatives and the letters together with the accompanying affidavits are now in the archives of the New Bedford Whaling museum. Several important points which needed to be specified!-DD]

#73: New Bedford, MA, 1964. An animal 50' long was seen just 50-100' off starboard. Water was "Flat and calm as a mill pond". The head was shaped alligator-ish, with lumps all along its midline, like camel humps. Head was also huge, about 20' long. The thing had a blow-hole, but was without a discernible neck. Body was dark but with white spotting. Its tail was like a lobster's and it flapped it upon the water. It paralleled the boat for some time and seemed "friendly". [Hey boys, come on in; the water's fine...]. [This one sighted by the Blue Sea was likely a whale but it is usually included together with the next one because both have "Alligator heads"-DD]

#74: New Bedford, MA, 1957. A creature with a very large body [of which 40' could be seen out of the water], was estimated at weighing over 35-40 tons. It had a seal-like shaped body but a long neck which held its head 26' out of the water. The head was "alligator-ish". It sported a mane of bristly hair.[The Noreen report, probably a "Whale-Eater" or the same as the Monongahela creature, and the midline crest is more ordinarily called a fin-DD]

The head and neck Periscope of the Whale-Eater type is commonly estimated to measure 25 feet, 10 feet of neck and 15 for the head, and this is also given in the case of the Monongehela creature. Hence it is not really the long neck that is so distinctive as it is the big head. Sightings of creatures with the head "the size of a rowboat" are uncommon but are on record off both New England and also Scandinavia, and sometimes in association with trains of the very large humps that could be due to pods of whales (hence the very largest "Super-otters" of absolutely fantastic dimensions) So once again we have our Whale-eater out chasing whales.

Alkali Lake Monster and Hall's Horrors

About the time Ivan Sanderson died, there was an article in PURSUIT by Mark A. Hall entitled "HORRORS From the Mesozoic" which touched on two distinct matters actually: the Alkali Lake Monster reported in Nebraska and the Great Horned Alligator mentioned much more vaguely as centered around Texas. The latter is both the more definite Cryptid and more spectacular, but the Alkali Lake monster became a point of confiusion by being better-documented and better-described, with a similar overall description. It was however almost certainly a hoax from the beginning.

From North American Monsters:

ALKALI MONSTER: (NEBRASKA, USA)

0 Comments 06 January 2010

This gargantuan, mono-horned, foul smelling, reptilian beast is reputed to lurk in the depths of Nebraska’s famed Alkali Lake, devouring all who come near it.

Located in central Nebraska, Walgren Lake (formerly known as Alkali Lake) is an eroded volcanic outcropping that is reputed to be the nesting place of one of the most unusual LAKE MONSTERS ever recorded and, if the legends are true, the habitat of the only aquatic monster ever reported in the state of Nebraska.
Originally chronicled in Native American folklore, this creature has been described as a gargantuan alligator-like beast with some unique attributes. Eyewitnesses claim that the beast is approximately 40-feet long, with rough, grayish-brown skin and a horny outgrowth located between its eyes and nostrils.

The first confirmed report of this curious monstrosity comes to us from the Omaha World Herald, dated 1923. In this report, a man named J.A. Johnson claimed that he and two friends had seen the creature while camping on the shores of Lake Alkali. Viewing the creature from a distance of a mere 60-feet, their testimony confirms that the animal’s features did resemble those of an alligator – complete with a rhinoceros-like horn – but that the creature in question was much longer and heavier than any traditional specimen of “Alligatoridae.” According to Johnson’s own account:
“I saw the monster myself while with two friends last fall. I could name forty other people who have also seen the brute.” Johnson went on to state that this creature had been responsible for local livestock losses.
The trio also claimed that as soon as the animal noticed their presence on shore, it emitted a “dreadful roar” and began to thrash its tail – creating a massive splash – before disappearing beneath the lake’s churning surface.
The American Monsters research team could uncover no modern encounters with this beast, which remains one of the most fascinating lake monsters in the continental United States.

http://www.americanmonsters.com/site/2010/01/alkali-monster-nebraska-usa/

A much-repeated description found on the internet follows:

The Alkali Lake, known now as Walgren Lake, is an 80 to 100 acre body of water located in the Sandhills area of Northwestern Nebraska. The lake is also the reputed home of the Alkali Lake Monster which is described as a 40 foot long alligator like creature with rough, grayish brown skin and a horn like appendage located between its eyes and nostrils. Reports of the Alkali Lake Monster started in August of 1921, and the first written account of the monster appeared in a 1922 printing of the Hay Springs News.

A second written report appeared in a 1923 printing of the Omaha World Herald. According to this report a name named J.A. Johnson claimed that he and two friends saw the creature while camping on the shores of Alkali Lake. The three men reported that they saw the creature from a distance of 60 feet and stated that it looked a lot like an alligator, complete with a rhinoceros like horn. They claimed that when the creature noticed them it began to violently thrash its tail and disappeared beneath the churning surface

See the original news report here dated 1923 July 24^th :

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19230724&id=uKkLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=21QDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3974,1214487

Some researchers of the Alkali Lake Monster have suggested evidence that the creature was nothing more than a hoax. They state that at the time stories of the creature first appeared the Hay Springs News employed a man by the name of John G. Maher, who reportedly had a flair for tall tales and hoaxes. One such trick he and his accomplices perpetuated was the planting of a concrete cast in the local badlands where it was later “discovered” and named petrified man.

Maher was a corresponding reporter for many newspapers at the time some of which where ran by editors who where only interested in boosting circulation by printing sensational stories [This was commonly known as "Yellow Journalism"-DD]. As a contributing reporter for many newspapers Maher was only paid for stories that where printed, so it became necessary for these stories to sound as good as possible. Maher's attitude toward his contributions was evident when he reportedly said, "There was a great demand for stories and few things to write about, so, for an inventive mind, there was nothing to do but make up stories".

Another noteworthy piece of information is that in 1889 and 1890 the Alkali Lake area experiences a severe drought causing water levels in the lake to fall until it became little more than a puddle, causing some to question how a 40 foot monster would appear in the lake just 30 years later. While the lake continues to be a popular social and recreational gathering areas to this day sightings of the Alkali Lake Monster all but stopped in the 1920’s leading most researchers to suggest that if the creature ever really did exist it has either passed away or moved out on to another lake.

 

http://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2009/08/alkali-lake-monster-fact-or-fiction.html

http://theshadowlands.net/serpent.htm

http://www.cryptozoology.com/forum/topic_view_thread.php?tid=5&pid=188348

 

-So essentially the entire history of the "reliable sightings" of the Alkali Lake monster consists of one published report, and possibly one later incident at Campbell Lake SD was inspired directly from it.(Evidently within the decade later and again with only one published account. I have not seen the actual account in this case but the two places are often cited in tandem by Cryptozoologists)

 

The Alkali Lake affair does not end at that point, however. Peter Costello's In Search of Lake Monsters includes the following information  on pages 210-211;

"This lake is a few miles south of Hay Springs. In 1939 the indigent scholars and writers employed on the Federal Writer's Project, which was collecting "American Folklore", summarised the history of the monster there, which they facetiously call Giganticus Brutervious. When the monster appeares the Earth trembles and the skies cloud over. When he comes ashore, to devour calves it is said, a thick mist covers the shore around him. His gnashing teeth rumble like claps of thunder (How reminiscent this is of the Chinese dragons, originally gods controlling rain and thunder. Did the Chinese coolies working on the American railroads in the 1870s leave one of their deities behind them in Nebraska?) the writers archly describe the horror of the monster, how his appearance made men mad or turned their hair white. He was said to be over 300 feet long and to have swallowed a small island in the lake. By 1939 the monster was seen so infrequently that some thought it was gone away, others that it was hibernating.

This is an example of folklorists at their worst. Rather than treat popular stories as topics of serious interest, the writers feel that to justify their spending time collecting and rehashing them, the stories have to be given a facetious treatment, and the bourgeois prejudice of the reader pandered to by making what his grandfather believed to be an object of ridicule. This is not literature, nor is it social science. It is rubbish. They would have been better employed exploring the coincidence of their local folklore with Chinese mythology"

Now that was uncalled for and I feel I must take Costello to task for it because he was being greatly misleading about a straightforeward report which he evidently did not even bother to read in the original. The story as Costello excerpts it was widely circulated at the time and reached even the London Times, which was evidently Costello's source. However, the original document is available on Google documents. It is quite responsible and it names John Maher as probably the originator of all this folderol. And bringing Chinese dragons into the discussion merely introduces another unrelated matter. The Alkali Lake monster seems to have been made from whole cloth from the onset, although there is the tiniest glimmer (because of the gag postcard reprinted by North American Monsters) that originally reports of "Giant Mudpuppies" might have been at the base of it. If so, the amphibians most likely had died off by the late 1800s and were separated from the wildly exaggerated stories by a generation or more. Here is the link to the document:

Giganticus Brutervious

On the other hand, Hall's explanation of the creature as a kind of enormous horned alligator (up to 50-60 feet long, the presumed size of "Phobosuchus") DOES correspond to some reports of creatures in Texas, the Mississippi delta and deep in the Everglades of Florida, a creature sometimes called the "Super-Croc." During the WWII days, sightings of such creatures were confused with (or interpreted as) "Phantom submarines" come up the Mississippi as far as Missouri, and at least one report of the White River Monster (Arkansas) sounds like one of these creatures (An alligator-like creature with an exaggerated back-crest and estimated as 75 feet long) And representations of these creatures in Native art feeds into the notion of a "Great Horned Serpent" because that is what archaeologists invariably call them. However, these creatures are large and hefty with no discernable neck to speak of.

"Horned Serpent" mound creature carved from coal. Note that this is a reptile because it has a single cloaca. Large creatures resembling this are pictured on ancient Indus Valley seals with the hint that they were trying to steal cattle. Similar giant horned crocodiles are supposed to live in the big rivers of Thailand and Burma, where they are called the "King of Crocodiles" and the length of 50-60 feet again quoted for them.

 "Great Horned Alligator" as a "Mississippi River Monster"

IMHO, the horns on these representations are much exaggerated and we do have a real creature involved. The "Super-Croc" is world-wide in distribution and may have been reported as dragons both in Mediterranean countries as well as in the Orient (China and Japan): they may have been the originals for the reports of Tarasques and "Storm Dragons" (said to have fallen from the sky during storms, AND to have been reported in Madagascar, South and East Africa (Including as the "Silwaaane Manzi"-if so there is a possible photo of one from South Africa in the 1930s). They are more than likely the source of a couple of Heuvelmans' reports of "Marine Saurians" and we may have some specimens of some of them in our museums mistakenly labelled as "Crocodylus porosis"-especially the largest specimens assigned to that species. And we may have reports of the type all the way back to Sumerian imes. They seem to be nearly entirely marine but are forced to go into freshwater to breed: evidently the smallest hatchlings cannot tolerate saltawater and need a period of development before travelling out to sea.

Best Wishes, Dale D.

More on Taniwhas, New Zealand Dragons

Taniwha

http://www.unknown-creatures.com/taniwha.html

Location of Taniwha Sightings
in deep pools in rivers, dark caves, or in the sea, especially in places with dangerous currents or deceptive breakers

Earliest - Latest Reported Taniwha Sighting

Ancient times to modern day

Description of the Taniwha

Taniwhas come in many different forms. If the Taniwha appears in the seas or oceans, it takes the form of either a very huge shark or a whale. When it is spotted in lakes or other inland waters, the Taniwha comes in the form of a gecko or a spined lizard. In some encounters it appears as a log or a “wheke” which means octopus”.

Interesting Sighting Details of the Taniwha

The waters of the earth offer many mysteries to men. Among these mysteries is the Taniwha. Based on legends of the Maori people, the Taniwha is a great water creature that acts as a protector or guardian of a certain tribe or place. Based on the legend, each tribe has its own Taniwha. Taniwhas come in many different forms of sea creatures. If the Taniwha appears in the seas or oceans, it takes often takes the form of either a very huge shark or a whale. When it is spotted in lakes or other inland waters, the Taniwha comes in the form of a gecko or a tuatara. In some stories, the mystic creature appears as a log or a “wheke” which means octopus”.
The name taniwha generally came from the word “tanifa” which refers to “a kind of shark”. For the Maori tribe, “Mango Taniwha” is used to refer to the great white shark. In the case of other tribes such as the Samoan, Tongan and Niuean, “tenifa” or “tanifa” refer to a sea monster in the form of a shark which feeds solely on human flesh. Based on the legends, the Taniwhas inhabit deep pools in rivers, or in the sea. They prefer areas with dangerous currents. However, some Taniwhas are said to live in dark caves.
Because of its size and strength, it is said that Taniwhas are capable of tunneling through the ground, uprooting trees and overturning houses in the process. Some Taniwhas have been credited as creators of certain harbors that form channels to the sea. Among these harbors is the Wellington harbor. According to the story, the said area was created by two Taniwhas. Aside from channels, natives point out that the bends in the river of Waikato were made by Taniwhas. Landslides in the area are often regarded as the works of Taniwhas as well.
Based on the local legends of New Zealand, Taniwhas are often regarded with an odd combination of respect and fear. As guardians of a tribe, offerings are often brought to the lairs of the Taniwhas. Whenever somebody passes through the known lairs of a Taniwha, a green twig and an incantation is offered as a sign of deference to the creature’s power. During harvests, the first “kumara” or sweet potato, or other forms of root crop is brought to the Taniwha as well.
However, a Taniwha is regarded as a very dangerous creature for the people who do not belong to the tribe that it guides. According to the local people of New Zealand, there are many stories of battles against Taniwhas.
Among the most popular Taniwhas in the area is Hotu-puku, the protector of Rotorua. Based on the legend, Hoto-puku waged many wars against people who dared to disturb the area and the tribe it protects.


CULTURAL ICON: Carvings depict the taniwha at AUT's Nga Wai o Horotiu marae



http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/news/latest-news/5125859/Train-taniwha-gets-Twitter-account

John Key: 'I don't believe in taniwhas'

MICHAEL FIELD Last updated 08:04 10/06/20

The Prime Minister says he is "not a great believer in taniwhas".
Horotiu the taniwha made news this week when Maori Statutory Board member Glenn Wilcox said the taniwha lived in the area of Auckland's proposed rail loop route. 
He said Ngati Whatua had not been consulted about the plans.
When asked this morning if he believed in the Maori mythical creature, Key replied: "I’ve got to say not overly, no. I respect people’s spiritual beliefs but I’m not a great believer in them."
Key was also dubious about Auckland Council’s plans to build a $2.4 billion rail tunnel in central Auckland.
"I think they’ve got a lot of factors to consider when it comes to the CBD rail tunnel. The reality is that the Government report shows there’s a lot more work to be done," he said.
Horotiu, the taniwha potentially blocking the tracks of Auckland's multi-billion dollar rail dream, is the latest celebrity to open a Twitter account.
The taniwha has also gone global, with London's Daily Telegraph headlining: "'Swamp monster' threatens Auckland railway project".
Drawing on a Stuff story, the Telegraph quotes Glenn Wilcox, a member of the Auckland City Council's Maori Statutory Board, demanding protection for Horotiu.
"As kaitiaki, or guardians, they protect people, but they also get up and bite you if they do not like what you are doing," Mr Wilcox said.

On Twitter the debate has sparked two new accounts - TaniwhaHorotiu and HorotiuTaniwha.

The first carries an early complaint that taniwha do not make an international list of mythical creatures.
The griffin and the phoenix topped the list, followed by unicorns and satyr, but no taniwha.
Politicians have climbed into the twitter taniwha with National's Tau Henare chimming in "another day, another taniwha. Build a viewing platform."
Labour MP David Shearer asked: "What about Transmission Gully - don't like Wellington though - too many politicians skunking up the sewers."
Veteran Auckland art writer Hamish Keith added some useful history: "Revealing a taniwha in the Ligar canal/Horotiu stream should be no surprise - its where the Plague arrived in Auckland in 1901."
In the blog-sphere the taniwha has been fair game, with Labour MP Phil Twyford saying the real threat to rail is not Horotiu: "It is a roads-mad Transport Minister determined to sink the plan for a modern rapid transit system in our biggest city. If there is a taniwha threatening the rail link its name is Steven Joyce. "
A proposed $2.4 billion tunnel which would increase rail capacity by turning Britomart into a through station rather than a dead-end, is already controversial with the Government saying it is much less economic than Auckland Council does.
But a new potential rail-block appeared when Glenn Wilcox, who sits on the council's Maori Advisory Board, said nobody had considered Horotiu the taniwha.
Mr Wilcox said Horotiu's area roughly covered the old Waihorotiu Stream, which ran roughly along what is now Queen St before it was sealed over.
Transit New Zealand in 2002 agreed to slightly reroute the Waikato Expressway near Meremere after a local hapu said the planned route cut through the domain of the taniwha Karu Tahi. A Northland iwi was later that year unsuccessful in stopping getting a prison built at Ngawha because of a taniwha.
- Stuff



In_The_Shadow_Of_The_Taniwha_by_tyrannus



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taniwha

Taniwha

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ureia, guardian taniwha of the Hauraki people. Carving from the meeting house Hotunui, 1878

In Māori mythology, taniwha (pronounced [ˈtanifa]) are beings that live in deep pools in rivers, dark caves, or in the sea, especially in places with dangerous currents or deceptive breakers. They may be considered highly respected kaitiaki (protective guardians) of people and places, or in some traditions as dangerous, predatory beings, which for example would kidnap women to have as wives


Etymology and Pacific analogues
Linguists have reconstructed the word taniwha to Proto-Oceanic *tanifa, with the meaning "shark species". In Tongan and Niuean, tenifa refers to a large dangerous shark, as does the Samoan tanifa; the Tokelauan tanifa is a sea-monster that eats people. In most other Polynesian languages, the cognate words refer to sharks or simply fish.^[1] Anthropologists such as A. Asbjørn Jøn have recognised that the taniwha has "analogues that appear within other Polynesian cosmologies".^[2]

Characteristics

At sea, a taniwha often appears as a whale or as a large shark; compare the Māori name for the Great white shark: mangō-taniwha. In inland waters, they may still be of whale-like dimensions, but look more like a gecko or a tuatara, having a row of spines along the back. Other taniwha appear as a floating log, which behaves in a disconcerting way (Orbell 1998:149-150, Reed 1963:297). Some can tunnel through the earth, uprooting trees in the process. Legends credit certain taniwha with creating harbours by carving out a channel to the ocean. Wellington's harbour, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, was reputedly carved out by two taniwha. The petrified remains of one of them turned into a hill overlooking the city. Other taniwha allegedly caused landslides beside lakes or rivers.
Taniwha can either be male or female. The taniwha Araiteuru is said to have arrived in New Zealand with the early voyaging canoes and her eleven sons are credited with creating the various branches of the Hokianga Harbour (Orbell 1995:184-185).^[3]

As guardians

Most taniwha are associated with tribal groups; each may have a taniwha of its own. The taniwha Ureia, depicted on this page, was associated as a guardian with the Māori people of the Hauraki district. Many well-known taniwha arrived from Hawaiki, often as guardians of a particular ancestral canoe. Once arrived in New Zealand, they took on a protective role over the descendants of the crew of the canoe they had accompanied.^[4] The origins of other taniwha are unknown.
When taniwha were accorded the appropriate respect, they usually acted well towards their people. Taniwha acted as guardians by warning of the approach of enemies, communicating the information via a priest who was a medium; sometimes the taniwha saved people from drowning. Because they lived in dangerous or dark and gloomy places, the people were careful to placate the taniwha with appropriate offerings if they needed to be in the vicinity or to pass by its lair. These offerings were often of a green twig, accompanied by a fitting incantation. In harvest time, the first kūmara (sweet potato) or the first taro was often presented to the taniwha (Orbell 1998:149-150).
Arising from the role of taniwha as tribal guardians, the word is also used to refer in a complimentary way to chiefs. The famous saying of the Tainui people of the Waikato district plays on this double meaning: Waikato taniwha rau 'Waikato of a thousand chiefs' (Mead & Groves 2001:421).^[5]
Witi Ihimaera, author of "The Whale Rider" says that he has a female kaitiaki (guardian) taniwha named Hine Te Ariki who lives in the Waipāoa River.^[6]

As notorious monsters

In their role as guardians, taniwha were vigilant to ensure that the people respected the restrictions imposed by tapu. They made certain that any violations of tapu were punished. Taniwha were especially dangerous to people from other tribes. There are many legends of battles with taniwha, both on land and at sea. Often these conflicts took place soon after the settlement of New Zealand, generally after a taniwha had attacked and eaten a person from a tribe that it had no connection with. Always, the humans manage to outwit and defeat the taniwha. Many of these taniwha are described as beings of lizard-like form, and the some of the stories say the huge beasts were cut up and eaten by the slayers.^[7] When Hotu-puku, a taniwha of the Rotorua district, was killed, his stomach was cut open to reveal a number of bodies of men, women, and children, whole and still undigested, as well as various body parts. The taniwha had swallowed all that his victims had been carrying, and his stomach also contained weapons of various kinds, darts, greenstone ornaments, shark's teeth, flax clothing, and an assortment of fur and feather cloaks of the highest quality.^[8]
Many taniwha were killers but in this particular instance the taniwha Kaiwhare was eventually tamed by Tamure. Tamure lived at Hauraki and was understood to have a magical mere/pounamu with powers to defeat taniwha. The Manukau people then called for Tamure to help kill the taniwha. Tamure and Kaiwhare wrestled and Tamure clubbed the taniwha over the head. Although he was unable to kill it, his actions tamed the taniwha. Kaiwhare still lives in the waters but now lives on kōura (crayfish) and wheke (octopus).^[9]

Relationships with people

Sometimes, a person who had dealings with taniwha during their lifetime might turn into a taniwha after they died. This happened to Te Tahi-o-te-rangi, who had been a medium for the taniwha, and had been rescued at one time by one of the creatures. Tūheita, an early ancestor who drowned, became a taniwha despite the fact that he had no prior dealings with the mythical beasts. Sometimes relationships are formed between humans and taniwha. Hine-kōrako was a female taniwha who married a human man, and Pānia was a woman from the sea who married a human and gave birth to a taniwha (Orbell 1998:150).
In the legend "The Taniwha of Kaipara" three sisters went out to pick berries. One of the sisters was particularly beautiful. The taniwha caused havoc on their walk back and the sisters fled. The taniwha caught the sisters one by one, trying to capture the beautiful one. On succeeding, he then took her back to his cave. Many years passed and the woman bore the taniwha six sons, with three like their father and three fully human. She educated all her sons and in particular taught her human sons the art of war, helping them to fashion and use weapons. The human sons then killed their three taniwha brothers, and eventually their father. They all went back to their homes.^[10]

Modern controversy

Beliefs in the existence of taniwha have a potential for controversy where they have been used to block or modify development and infrastructure schemes.
In 2002, Ngāti Naho, a Māori tribe from the Meremere district, successfully ensured that part of the country's major highway, State Highway 1, be rerouted in order to protect the abode of their legendary protector. This taniwha was said to have the appearance of large white eel, and Ngāti Naho argued that it must not be removed but rather move on of its own accord; to remove the taniwha would be to invite trouble. Television New Zealand reported in November 2002 that Transit New Zealand had negotiated a deal with Ngāti Naho under which "concessions have been put in place to ensure that the taniwha are respected".^[11] Some like controversial journalist Brian Rudman have criticised such deals in respect of 'secretive taniwha which rise up from swamps and river beds every now and again, demanding a tithe from Transit New Zealand'.^[12]
In 2001 "another notable instance of taniwha featuring heavily within the public eye was that of a proposed Northland prison site at Ngawha which was eventually granted approval through the courts."^[13]
Māori academic Dr Ranginui Walker, in a detailed letter to the Waikato Times, said that in the modern age a taniwha was the manifestation of a coping mechanism for some Māori. It did not mean there actually was a creature lurking in the water, it was just their way of indicating they were troubled by some incident or event.^{[citation needed]}
In 2010 there was an episode of Destination Truth where Josh Gates and his team went looking for the taniwha, but turned up no good evidence.

Notes

1. ^ Polynesian Lexicon Project Online, entry tanifa
2. ^ A. Asbjørn Jøn, 'The Road and the Taniwha' in Australian Folklore 22 (2007), pp.85-94 (p.85). http://www.une.edu.au/folklorejournal/ ISBN 1-86389-831-X
3. ^ "A white dolphin that regularly met ships in the French Pass region became known to Pakeha as Pelorus Jack, but was recognised by Maori people Tuhirangi".Orbell,M.`The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Maori Myth and Legend`(1995),p225
4. ^ One Maori legend mentions taniwha, in the form of wheke (octopuses), escorting two canoes in the Ngāti Toa migrations of the 19th century. Another story concerns three taniwha that escorted (Ngāti) Ruanui and Ngā Puhi on the journey from Hawaiki after the people called out to the atua (spiritual overlords) seeking a means of safe passage. Two taniwha oversaw the safety of Ngā Puhi and the other guarded Ruanui.^{[citation needed]}
5. ^ A fuller version of the saying, "Waikato taniwha rau, he piko he taniwha, he piko he taniwha" (Waikato of a hundred taniwha, a taniwha on each bend) implies that there is a taniwha, that is, a powerful chief, on each bend of the Waikato River.
6. ^ Keane, Basil (1 March 2009). "Taniwha Today: Taniwha and identity". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/taniwha/8. Retrieved 23 December 2010. 
7. ^ The Maori As He Was : A Brief Account of Maori Life as it was in Pre-European Days Folk-lore P.49
8. ^ Orbell 1998:149-150, Reed 1963:299. Reed makes the comment that Hotu-puku's stomach contents constituted a fairly standard list that was repeated in many other taniwha stories.
9. ^ Reed A,W.,`Reed book of Māori mythology`(2004), pp.288-289
10. ^ Reed A,W.,`Reed book of Māori mythology`(2004), pp.285-286
11. ^ Taniwha roading concerns eased, TVNZ, 12 November 2002.
12. ^ Brian Rudman: Suffer, little children - and watch out for the spaceship - New Zealand Herald, Wednesday 06 June 2007
13. ^ A. Asbjørn Jøn, 'The Road and the Taniwha' in Australian Folklore 22 (2007), pp.85-94 (p.86). http://www.une.edu.au/folklorejournal/ ISBN 1-86389-831-X

 References

• H.M. Mead, N. Grove, Ngā Pēpeha a ngā Tīpuna, The Sayings of the Ancestors (Victoria University Press: Wellington) , 2001.
• M. Orbell, The Concise Encyclopedia of Māori Myth and Legend (Canterbury University Press: Christchurch), 1998.
• M. Orbell, "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Maori Myth and Legens" (Canterbury University Press: Christchurch), 1995.
• M. Orbell, "Traditional Maori Stories (Reed Publishing: Auckland), 1992.
• A.W. Reed, "Reed book of Maori Mythology" (Reed Publishing: Auckland), 2004.
• A.W. Reed, Treasury of Maori Folklore (A.H. & A.W. Reed:Wellington), 1963.

 External links

• Te Ara (Encyclopedia of New Zealand): Taniwha

In many cases, The Taniwhas are described as being lizardlike and in some specific instances the term can be understood to mean the Indopacific or "Saltie" crocodile, which occasionally wanders down as far as the North Island. On the other hand, many accounts insist the animal is as big as a whale and it seems that Giant Great White sharks are included in this category, as well as what must be some truly enormous crocodiles (see illustration below). One specific meaning is also pretty well identified: the name applies to the local version of the "Whale-Eater" or "Dr Shucker's Leviathan" pictured at left.

Other reports seem to refer to something pretty definitely much like the Komodo dragon in size and shape, and it is noted for the habit of sticking out its tongue (The Komodo dragon uses this for tracking things by scent in the same way as snakes do, by carrying dust particles to the Jacobson's organs in the roof of its mouth)



Tattoo Version



I had mentioned before that some of the rock-art Taniwhas appear to be Plesiosaurs. Here are a couple of others. The long neck is exaggerated into doing corkscrew turns as above, and the oddly enlarged "Head" on the version shown on the stamp seems to be showing the same loops" The eye is not the big circle but one of the smaller circles nearer to the mouth-the big circle appears to mean a loop of the neck on the stamp version, much the same as the more elaborate one above. This is probably meant to show typical seaserpent "Humps" and the effect is oddly like the Spicer's description of the Loch Ness Monster.


It also seems true that using Taniwha to mean generally reptillian monsters, usually sea monsters, but also great sharks, is the same usage you get in the Philippines and possibly throughout all of the Malayo-Polynesian languages generally if sporadically. I gather the usage for the Malagassy "Tompandrano" is also the same.


Some commentators have noted that some of the representations of lizardlike Taniwhas (Mananias) seem to be upright walking humanoid creatures, hence Reptoids. And an additional Maori legendary creature is the Marakai-Hau, described as a gigantic merman with two extra-lathe tusks or fangs, or "Tubes" coming out of its mouth. It has been postulated that this myth commemorates a past knowledge of the Walrus whren the Maori had contact with more Northerly waters and Thor Heyerdahl quotes the legend in that sense when he makes mention of it in the book American Indians in the Pacific.It could however mean a sort of native walrus, or even possibly a tusked whale.

Best Wishes, Dale D.

Some Other 'Pristichampsus' Sea-Serpent Art on DeviantArt

Humpback Whale Leaping and "Humpback and Gorramolooch, the Truth and the Legend"







Conakry Monster by Pristichampsus (decayed Humpback Whale)




CFZ REPOST: Tuesday, December 21, 2010
DALE DRINNON: IRISH SEA SERPENT ADDENDUM
The following news item is found on various sites on the internet, mostly deriving from the site Cryptomundo. It is a newspaper clipping originally submitted by Jerome Clark.

Kingston Daily Freeman
Kingston, New York

June 17, 1922

IRELAND HAS FOUND ITS OWN SEA SERPENT

It Has an Irish Name and Fishermen Insist That Sight of It Is Bad Luck.

This being the time for the annual crop of sea-serpents the public here is being regaled with a new one of Irish nationality.

Its Irish name is “Gorramooloch.” It cannot only swim and lash its tail in orthodox sea-serpent manner, but reports from the west coast of Ireland, where it is alleged to have been seen frequently, credit it with the power of flight.

According to inhabitants of the wilder parts of the coast of Connemara, Mayo and Donegal, the “Gorramooloch” frequently turns up for exhibition stunts, principally at night. It is described as being shaped like a porpoise, 100 feet long, and rushing through the water with the speed of an express train. Occasionally it would leap out of and forward over the water a distance to its own length. When it fell back into the sea again the splash was said to sound like the crack of a three-inch gun.

The fact that these creatures are not seen more often is because, it is explained, they appear principally at night. It is then that they go a-hunting after the gannet, a sort of seagull. When they see one flying near the surface of the ocean, they leap out of the water 40 or 50 feet and gliding, by the aid of their large wing-like fins, guided by their vertically set tail, bring down the bird.

Fishermen, curiously enough, consider the appearance of the “Gorramooloch” to be a sign of bad luck, though it has not yet been reported to be cannibalistic. But there is another brand of sea serpent which they fear more as a sign of ill omen. This one is yclept the “Bo-dree-more.” It is said to be a large whale-like animal, so large and powerful that it chases whales for sport. According to local superstition, the sight of a “Bo-dree-more” means certain ill luck for the men and the craft who spot it.

The identity of the Goramooloch is almost transparently obvious because it is a fairly good description of a humpback whale leaping fully out of the water, as they sometimes do. The size is only somewhat exaggerated since the humpback whale only grows to about 60 feet long; but still a guess of a hundred feet is less that double the actual length and double the actual length in a report of an "Unknown animal" is almost standard. The statement about their leaping after gannets would basically be only a bad guess as to what is going on: similarly the allegation of a vertically-set tail (which is not in the original reports but in the "Explanation" part) would only be another bad guess.



As to the "Bodreemore" (Alternate spelling) I would like to know more because this sounds exactly like the Untersee Crocodile as reported by the German U-boat captains in World War 1.



Posted by Jon Downes at 4:15 AM 2 comments:
drshoop said...
The "Bodreemore" description sounds a lot like an Orca or Killer Whale as it were.
[More along the lines of the extinct "Leviathan" predatory Sperm Whale-DD]

5:22 PM
Dale Drinnon said...
Markus Hemmler did write to me subsequently that he had found another newspaper article about the Gorramooloch, worded slightly differently.

I told him no thanks, I had been there, done that, but now I was really more interested in the "Bodreemore"-
That latter name might possibly be a misspelling for the Gaelic meaning "The great Sea Dragon", but I cannot be sure of that.

2:49 AM


An assortment of large Sea-serpents as illustrated by "Pristichampsus (Tim Morris) on Deviant Art, all as variations of sightings in the Whale-Eater (Dr. Shuker's Leviathan) series of reports.
Dale considers that all these reconstructions are different attempts to show the same sort of creature as seen bu different witnesses.


Bo-Dree-More or Irish Whale-Eater;





Grangense SS seen near mouth of Amazon River



Biblical Leviathan:






Monongahela Monster










Eagle Schooner Monster seen off Southern US along with a young one.








These Last two are different and I consider them to represent a contrasting type to the Heuvelmans' Marine Saurians represented in the series above:
Type 6-Saurian (Marine Saurian) category by Bruce Champagne,more like another edition of the following:






"Duckbilled Sea Crocodile" both by Pristichampsus, The description of this creature being that it is like the IndoPacific crocodile but larger, more at home at sea, with horned ear scutes and a wider, blunter head like an alligator, called "Duckbilled" in some sources. This is identical to one of Dale Drinnon's categories for SOME "Marine Saurian" reports, plus Mark Hall's category of "'Horrors'From the Mesozoic" in North America (article title in PURSUIT)

More Comments on Heuvelmans' Sea-serpents

The Major Types of Bernard Heuvelmans' Sea-Serpents, ca 1969

Diagram showing Sperm whale and its skeleton. Please note the row of small humps on top of the tail section: Heuvelmans said that the humps on the back of his sea-serpent were similar to these and much the same function, but were more prominent to the witnesses.




The shape of the Sperm whale's head is due to its including a large tank holding an oily substance, the spermaceti. This organ evidently functions as a hydrostatic organ. maintaining the animal's position in the water while it swims. Heuvelmans assumes that the humps on the back of the Many-humped Sea-serpent are hydrostatic organs and in this case he is following Ivan Sanderson's suggestion.



Heuvelmans' Many-Humped Sea-Serpent
by Pristichampsus (Tim Morris)

This incorporates several sets of mistaken observations. The unknown animal involved turns out to be the same as the Long-necked Sea-serpent or Oudemans' "Megophias" but the observations of the humps are a series of mistaken observations of waves in the wake. Different kinds of animals make the appropriate kind of wake, but including both Longnecks and Killer whales, other whales, boats, sharks, large fishes and other kinds of Sea-serpents.See my earlier CFZ blog:
http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/2009/11/dale-drinnon-distant-humps.html

Forepart of Manyhumped SS, Backfin and Pectoral fins, derived from Orca (Killer whale) in a position unfamiliar to the witnesses. This also bolstered the opinion that the "Correct" colouration for the type was black on the back, white on the belly-like an Orca.



Heuvelmans' LongNecked SS
By Pristichampsus

This type also features a shorter line of humps on the back which Heuvelmans says are of variable contour: one big central hump on the back, or several medium sized ones (which he says that the big central hump causes the appearance of two or three large humps together) or else the humps are whipped by turbulance waves in the water to as many as six or seven smaller humps in a line. His book In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents includes a plate showin a swimming seal to make the point about the turbulence waves. This follows after earlier suggestions that the humps might be inflatable airsacs, which is a theory Dinsdale championed at first and then Sanderson took up thereafter. Heuvelmans continued the idea the humps might be airsacs in the Many-humped kind and I used to go along with the idea in the case of the Longnecks. Discussions with members at the yahoo group Frontiers of Zoology did bring home the extreme precariousness of the arrangement, when an accidental puncture would be disastrous and too great of water pressure on the whole could blow out the whole system and potentially expose a large section of the back to the mercy of the outside world.

So a safer model might be like the sperm whale's spermaceti tank removed to the center of the back as a hydrostatic organ in lieu of a back fin. Anatomically it would be composed of mostly the top layer and the bottom layer of tougher connective tissue and in between, a chamber full of an oily or waxy secretion. This would be equivalent to what Heuvelmans was saying when he was calling the hump area a sack of oily fat, which would come down to basically that same structure, anatomically speaking, and it would act the same way to become variable-contour in the water.

However for the most part and for the very LONG hump-trains, we would still be talking in terms of standing wave effects caused by the way the wake works.

Heuvelmans also said that the Longneck occasionally showed "Horns" that were presumably erectile nostrils forming snorkles. I would have to say that the feature occurs so infrequently, and is also known to show up consistently i one category of mistakes, that this feature is unconfirmed. It is best not to make too big a deal over them. Given that the "Mane" is sometimes said to be spiny, the "Horns" might be nothing more complicated than part of a young male's first mane starting to come in (They are definitely spoken of as part of the mane in the Corinthian SS's description)












Parsons 1751 Long-Necked Seal (7 foot long Juvenile=adult male no more than 20 feet long)

There are on the other hand still good reason to think there are such things as Long-necked seals. In fact they had a scientific description long ago but were mostly forgotten since then.

The Kivik Stone Evidently Illustrating Long-Necked Seals.
The Long-necked seals turn out to be not so very large and still in the size range of the "Known" seals since reports of them are universally between ten and twenty feet long.


Recent photos allegedly showing a Longnecked Sea-Serpent swimming off of Devon, UK:

Although the photos are not clear, the great distance between the head and the (supposedly turtlelike) body of this sea Monster do cause me to think this might be a fairly young Longnecked sea-serpent. This would be about right for the usual attitude in the water, the creature must be putting out some sort of an effort to seem to ride higher in the water, probably by using its paddles in a downstroke. If I understand these photos correctly, the head of the crature at top is facing right and at bottom it is facing left.




Closely-Packed Pilot Whales, Origin of SOME "Manyfinned" SS cases. At times the head of one is seen and identified as looking exactly like a Pilot whale's head.

Many-Finned Orcas, Puget Sound pod






I mentioned before that it was convenient for me to speak of Bruce Champagne's and Bernard Heuvelmans' Marine Saurians as different creatures: For me, Heuvelmans was describing a more definite Mosasaur with scales arranged in rings around the body, and the emphasis on the WWI UBoat Captains' reports. On the other hand, Champagne emphasizes a different suite of features including a potted coloration, shortened head and more obvious feet with webbed separate digits, and he mentions a Mediterranean population. In this case, that means the Medcroc to me. The Medcroc is often written off as errant examples of the Nile Crocodile, but reports say that it is broader and fatter, with a broader snout ("Duckbilled"), and they say that it can grow to enormous sizes over 50 feet long for a really big one. (One of them was definitely the Tarrasque, and estimates on the Tarrasque's size can range from 50 to 75 feet long)


Below is a representational Sea Dragon from a Roman coin: its head is elongated and looks like a crocodile's head, and the body shows four short widely-spaced legs, and so this might be a representation of a Medcroc. medcroc "Dragons" were definitely known to come ashore in Greece and Turkey in Classical days, and some are still turning up in Italy up to the present.



The colour illustration is the Aiya Napa seamonster seen around Cyprus as interpreted by Pristichampsus. The creature is called "The Friendly Monster" locally because it is not known to have ever attacked anubody. Some pretty fantastic descriptions are ascribed to it, and here Tim Morris depicts it as a sort of Mosasaur. From some of the more recent descriptions it is more definitely a crocodile, and it might be another surviving population of the Medcroc.

Early French depiction of Tarrasque on a church pillar, from Wikipedia, Image reversed. Note similarity of shape of the head (right) to the head of an alligator. The scales on the back are squared here, but also said to be interspersed with pointed ones.