My
ancestors are the taniwha that have always protected
the rivers. I am an ancient resident of this land
and Aotearoa is the only place that I live. I could
live until I am 80 years old and I can grow just as
long as a person is tall. The girls get much bigger
than the guys. I usually live in the cool areas of
small streams, coming out at night to smell out my
food. I eat any animal that I find - weta, koura,
small rats, mice and fish. I have even eaten my
cousins, the shortfin eels.
When I turn thirty-five years old I am mature. When
I migrate, anytime after that, I grow large eyes and
swim away into the Pacific Ocean. There I lay my
eggs and die. But, my young will hatch and come back
to Aoteoroa in the ocean currents. They are
see-through and humans call them glass eels. When
they get back, they will change colour to be the
same dark brown as I was and they too will swim up a
stream and hide under a log or an overhanging bank.
At night-time, they will come out to feed and will
live in the river like I did and like my ancestors
have done for generations before me.
My
ancestors are the taniwha that have always protected
the rivers. I am an ancient resident of this land
and Aotearoa is the only place that I live. I could
live until I am 80 years old and I can grow just as
long as a person is tall. The girls get much bigger
than the guys. I usually live in the cool areas of
small streams, coming out at night to smell out my
food. I eat any animal that I find - weta, koura,
small rats, mice and fish. I have even eaten my
cousins, the 
