Whare Kai
The Whare Kai (literally 'food house') is a traditional Maori building for the storage of food.
In a land with no snakes and very few mammals, keeping food safe from animals wasn't as hard as in many countries but there were certainly challenges.
New Zealand had only one land mammal historically (a bat) but Maori brought rats and pigs with them when they arrived some 800-1,000 years ago. The country did have a native lizard and skinks and the food will have required protection from them as well. However, NZ is primarily a nation of birds where they have replaced mammals in many of the food niches we understand.
Food would typically have been wrapped in leaves and/or woven flax to protect it from scavengers. Because of this, many birds lost the ability to fly and became ground scavengers. Other flying species, are opportunists and would steal any food left out.
Maori across the two main islands, established a raised food storage building as the best way to protect stored foodstuffs.
Whare Kai
The Whare Kai (literally 'food house') is a traditional Maori building for the storage of food.
In a land with no snakes and very few mammals, keeping food safe from animals wasn't as hard as in many countries but there were certainly challenges.
New Zealand had only one land mammal historically (a bat) but Maori brought rats and pigs with them when they arrived some 800-1,000 years ago. The country did have a native lizard and skinks and the food will have required protection from them as well. However, NZ is primarily a nation of birds where they have replaced mammals in many of the food niches we understand.
Food would typically have been wrapped in leaves and/or woven flax to protect it from scavengers. Because of this, many birds lost the ability to fly and became ground scavengers. Other flying species, are opportunists and would steal any food left out.
Maori across the two main islands, established a raised food storage building as the best way to protect stored foodstuffs.