Taniwha

Origin and tradition

Māori traditions describe taniwha as powerful beings in water or caves, sometimes guardians and sometimes dangerous.

Illustration in this atlas

The plate selects a serpentine water-being. Taniwha may also take lizard, shark, whale, or other forms in particular iwi traditions, and may be guardians as well as threats.

References and further reading

1. teara.govt.nz — taniwha

These references offer further reading. Accounts and depictions vary; the atlas illustration is interpretive artwork, rather than historical or scientific evidence.