Kurī Explained

Kurī
Country:	New Zealand
Extinct:	yes

The Kurī is an extinct breed of Polynesian Dog kept by Māori people. It was introduced to New Zealand by the Polynesian ancestors of the Māori during their migration from East Polynesia in the 13th century AD. According to Māori tradition, the demigod Māui transformed his brother-in-law Irawaru into the first dog.^[1]

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 barked.^[2]

Use

Kurī were a source of food for Māori, and considered a delicacy. British explorer James Cook 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),^[3] belts,^[4] weapon decorations^{[5] [6]} and poi.^[7]

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.^[8]

See also

• Hawaiian Poi Dog – breed of Polynesian dog native to Hawaii
• Marquesan Dog – extinct breed of Polynesian dog native to the Marquesas Islands
• Tahitian Dog - extinct breed of Polynesian dog native to Tahiti in the Society Islands
• Polynesian dog
• Askal
• Taiwan dog
• Philippine forest dog
• Domesticated plants and animals of Austronesia
• List of dog breeds
• List of extinct dog breeds

Further reading

• Book: Alto, Jan. The Maori Dog: A Study of the Polynesian Dog of New Zealand. 1970. M.A Thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland. Auckland. 277831950.
  • 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.
• Anderson. A. J.. Clark. G. R.. Advances in New Zealand Mammalogy 1990–2000: Polynesian Dog or Kuri. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 31. 1. March 2001. Royal Society of New Zealand. Wellington. 4901500463. 161–163. 10.1080/03014223.2001.9517645.
• Anderson . Atholl . Atholl Anderson . Pre-European Hunting Dogs in the South Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology. 3. 1981. New Zealand Archaeological Association. Dunedin. 15–20. 605733958.
• Black. G. J.. A Maori Dog-skin Cloak (Kaha Kuri). The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 31. 1. March 1922. The Polynesian Society. Wellington. 20701862. 6015242651. 59–63.
• Clark, Geoffrey R. (1995). The Kuri in Prehistory: a Skeletal Analysis of the Extinct Maori Dog. MA thesis, Anthropology Department, University of Otago
• Clark. Geoffrey R.. Anthropogenic Factors and Prehistoric Dog Morphology: A Case Study from Polynesia. Archaeology in Oceania. 32. 1. April 1997. Oceania Publications, University of Sydney. Sydney. 6015358906. 124–130. 10.1002/j.1834-4453.1997.tb00378.x. 40387064.
• Clark . Geoffrey R . 1997a . Osteology of the kuri Maori: The prehistoric dog of New Zealand . Journal of Archaeological Science . 24 . 2 . 113–126 . 10.1006/jasc.1995.0098. 1997JArSc..24..113C .
• Clark . Geoffrey R . 1997b . Maori Subsistence Change: Zooarchaeological Evidence from the Prehistoric Dog of New Zealand . Asian Perspectives . 36 . 2. 200–219 . 42928408.
• Book: Clout, Stephanie Dale. The archaeology, ethnography and mitochondrial genetics of the extinct Polynesian dog : a select annotated bibliography : submitted to the School of Communications and Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Library and Information Studies. 2003. Victoria University of Wellington. Wellington. 904068456.
• Book: Colenso, William. William Colenso. Notes on the Ancient Dog of the New Zealanders. Read before the Hawke Bay Philosophical Institute, 8th October, 1877. 1877. Kiwi Publishers . Christchurch. 978-1-877145-09-4. 950892251.
• Coutts . Peter . Jurisich . Mark . 1973 . Canine Passengers in Maori Canoes . World Archaeology . 5 . 1. 72–85 . 124154 . 10.1080/00438243.1973.9979554.
• Fletcher. H. J.. No. 235. The Kuri-maori, or Native Dog. The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 21. 81. March 1912. The Polynesian Society. Wellington. 1762632. 184.
• Greig . K . Boocock . J . Prost . S . Horsburgh . KA . Jacomb . C . etal . 2015 . Complete Mitochondrial Genomes of New Zealand's First Dogs . PLOS ONE . 10 . 10. e0138536 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0138536 . 4596854 . 26444283. 2015PLoSO..1038536G . free .
• Luomala. Katharine. Stanley Diamond. The Native Dog in the Polynesian System of Values. Culture in History: Essays in Honor of Paul Radin. 1st. 1960. Columbia University Press. New York. 16324448. 190–240.
• Luomala. Katharine. A History of the Binomial Classification of the Polynesian Native Dog. Pacific Science. 14. 13. July 1960. Pacific Science Association. Honolulu. 10125/8347. 78130351. 193–223.
• Luomala. Katharine. Additional Eighteenth-Century Sketches of the Polynesian Native Dog, Including the Maori. Pacific Science. 16. 2. April 1962. Pacific Science Association. Honolulu. 10125/5950. 16324444. 170–180.
• Murison . W. D. . 1877 . Note on the wild dog. Appendix to Gillies. R. Note on some Changes in the Fauna of Otago . Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute . 10 . 306–324 .
• Book: Salmond, Anne. The Trial of the Cannibal Dog: The Remarkable Story of Captain Cook's Encounters in the South Seas. 2003. Yale University Press. New Haven. 978-0-300-10092-1. 249435583.
• Skinner. W. H.. The Ancient Maori Dog. The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 23. 3. September 1914. The Polynesian Society. Wellington. 20701078. 6015299748. 173–175.
• Book: Titcomb. Margaret. Pukui. Mary Kawena. Dog and Man in the Ancient Pacific, with Special Attention to Hawaii. 59. 1969. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publications. Honolulu. 925631874.
• Book: Williams, Carys. For the Love of Dog – A Discussion on Dog Domestication with an Ethnographic Focus on the Islands of the South Pacific. 2015. University of Oxford. Oxford.
• White. Taylor. Article LI.—On the Native Dog of New Zealand. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 24. 1891. Royal Society of New Zealand. Wellington. 2256259. 540–557.
• White. Taylor. Article LXX. Te Kuri maori (the Dog of New Zealand). A Reply to the Rev. W. Colenso. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 26. 1894. Royal Society of New Zealand. Wellington. 2256259. 585–600.
• White. Taylor. Editor. No. 233. The Kuri-maori, or Native Dog. The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 21. 81. March 1912. The Polynesian Society. Wellington. 1762632. 138–139.
• Wilson. Andrew. Notes and Queries: The Native Dog (Kuri Maori). The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 22. 1. March 1913. The Polynesian Society. Wellington. 20701019. 811588371. 42.
• Wood . Jamie R. . Crown . Cole . Theresa . L . Wilmshurst . Janet M. . 2016 . Microscopic and ancient DNA profiling of Polynesian dog (kurī) coprolites from northern New Zealand . Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports . 6 . 496–505 . 10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.03.020. 2016JArSR...6..496W .

Notes and References

1. Luomala. Katharine. 1958. Polynesian Myths about Maui and the Dog. Fabula. Berlin. Walter de Gruyter. 2. 1. 139–162. 10.1515/fabl.1959.2.1.139. 161088509. 4958364642.
2. Web site: Kurī – Polynesian dogs – What is the kurī?. Keane. Basil. 24 November 2008. Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. 12 February 2019.
3. Web site: Kahu kuri (dog skin cloak). Collections Online. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. 20 July 2010.
4. Web site: Tatua (belt). Collections Online. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. 20 July 2010.
5. Web site: Edged Weapons with dogskin in the Taonga Māori Collection. Collections Online. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. 20 July 2010.
6. Web site: Edged Weapons with dog hair in the Taonga Māori Collection. Collections Online. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. 20 July 2010.
7. Web site: Poi awe (percussive device). Collections Online. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. 20 July 2010.
8. Book: Best, Elsdon. The Maori. 1. 1924. The Polynesian Society. Wellington. 222243473. 433–435.