The Kurī is an extinct breed of
Polynesian Dog kept by
Māori people
Māori () are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of Māori migration canoes, c ...
. It was introduced to
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
by the Polynesian ancestors of the Māori during their migration from East
Polynesia
Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...
in the 13th century AD. According to
Māori tradition, the demigod
Māui
Māui or Maui is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a deity ( demigod) and more of a folk hero. His origins vary from culture to culture, but many of his main expl ...
transformed his brother-in-law
Irawaru into the first dog.
Description
Kurī were bushy-tailed, with short legs and powerful shoulders. Their coat colour ranged from yellowish brown to black, white, or spotted. Like other Polynesian dog breeds, they howled instead of barking.
Use
Kurī were
a source of food for Māori, and considered a
delicacy
A delicacy is a rare food item that is considered highly desirable, sophisticated, or peculiarly distinctive within a given culture or region. A delicacy may have an unusual flavor or be expensive compared to everyday foods.
Delicacies va ...
. British explorer
James Cook
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...
sampled kurī on his 1769 voyage and declared that it was almost as tasty as lamb.
Kurī were also used to hunt birds.
In addition, Māori used their skins and fur to make dog-skin cloaks (
kahu kurī), belts, weapon decorations and
poi.
Extinction
Kurī were seen widely across New Zealand during Cook's first voyage in 1769.
The kurī became extinct in New Zealand in the 1860s, following the arrival of European settlers; the breed was unable to survive interbreeding with European dogs. The remains of the last known specimens, a female and her pup, are now in the collection of the
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa ( Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand ...
.
See also
*
Hawaiian Poi Dog – breed of Polynesian dog native to
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
*
Marquesan Dog – extinct breed of Polynesian dog native to the
Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan language, Marquesan: ' (North Marquesan language, North Marquesan) and ' (South Marquesan language, South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcano, volcanic islands in ...
*
Tahitian Dog - extinct breed of Polynesian dog native to
Tahiti
Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...
in the
Society Islands
The Society Islands ( , officially ; ) are an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean that includes the major islands of Tahiti, Mo'orea, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora and Huahine. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country ...
*
Polynesian dog
*
Askal
Askal (portmanteau of ''asong kalye'', meaning " street dog"), also called aspin (portmanteau of ''asong Pinoy'', meaning "Filipino dog"), refers to the diverse population of mongrel free-ranging dogs found in the Philippines.
The term "as ...
*
Taiwan dog
*
Philippine forest dog
*
Domesticated plants and animals of Austronesia
One of the major human migration events was the maritime settlement of the islands of the Indo-Pacific by the Austronesian peoples, believed to have started from at least 5,500 to 4,000 BP (3500 to 2000 BCE). These migrations were accompani ...
*
List of dog breeds
This list of dog breeds includes both Neontology#Extant taxa versus extinct taxa, extant and extinct dog breeds, Designer breed, varieties and dog type, types. A research article on dog genomics published in Science/AAAS defines modern dog breeds ...
*
List of extinct dog breeds
The following is a list of extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capa ...
References
Further reading
*
*
*Allo Bay-Peter en. J. L. 1979. The role of the dog in the economy of the New Zealand Maori. In Anderson. A. J. (Ed). ''Birds of a Feather: Osteological and Archaeological papers from the South Pacific in honour of R. J. Scarlett'': 165- 181. British Archaeological Records. International Series 62.
*
*
*
*Clark, Geoffrey R. (1995). The Kuri in Prehistory: a Skeletal Analysis of the Extinct Maori Dog. MA thesis, Anthropology Department, University of Otago
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuri
Extinct dog breeds
Extinct animals of New Zealand
Dog as food
Polynesian Dog
Mammals of New Zealand
Dog breeds originating in New Zealand