Case file · Folklore / legend
Hotupuku, the taniwha of Kaingaroa
A Te Arawa tradition tells how warriors killed the man-eating taniwha Hotupuku, who preyed on travellers crossing the Kaingaroa Plains near Rotorua; the date is that of 19th-century published collections.
1887 CE · -38.30, 176.40 · status: legend
The account
The hunters lured the creature from its lair and trapped it with ropes, then found the remains of its victims in its belly. The story is one of several taniwha-slayer traditions retold in John White's 'The Ancient History of the Maori' (1887–1890).
The sceptical view
A traditional narrative about dangers on an old travel route, not a report of a living animal.