In 2005 another photograph of the New Zealand Panther was taken at a place called Clearwater, and an Australian tourist saw one that same year near a hotel at Queenstown, which he at first had taken to be a golden retriever dog but soon realized was actually a big cat of some kind. It is probably a relief to many that they went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period, around 66 million years ago. To finish with mysterious land mammals in New Zealand we have a creature often called the Waitoreke, which is usually described as being some sort of aquatic mammal like a river otter or beaver, and which is something that is decidedly not native to the islands. European settlers, especially prospectors and ranchers, often reported coming across large flightless birds, with one sheep herder in the 1800s even claiming to have had his sheep dog attacked by a moa after it was chased and provoked by the dog. In the 1840s the Australian wildlife painter James Gould made his own report of what he described as “giant kiwis” about 4 feet in height and with unique spurred feet, which were actually characteristic of moas. Māori living in areas inhabited by the monsters lived in terror of them, staying well away from where they were said to lurk. Also in 1875 was a report of some remains of the giant lizards found in a cave by a Mr F.W Hutton, and in 1898 there was a sighting made in an area called Arowhana, of a 6-foot long lizard that acted aggressively and charged towards a bushman. There are many historic encounters of these creatures in New Zealand, a possible example of which I have written of at Mysterious Universe before with a creature referred to as the Māori Gorilla, and these sorts of accounts have continued into relatively recent years. It is a remarkable account, as Gould was a naturalist and well acquainted with the local wildlife. Since starting in 2015 Monster Group has grown rapidly, a result of both hard work and a continual drive for success. More recently still, human-like footprints were found in 1983 by a hunter along a riverbank in the Heaphy River area, and in 1991 other campers in the Cameron Mountains were spooked by massive man-like footprints found scattered around their camp, which had materialized during the night as they slept and which sent them packing. Walter Mandel, the son of Naturalist Gideon Mandel, supposedly became obsessed with gaining evidence of this creature, but never did find any.

In 1903 some very large, man-like footprints were found at the the Karangahake Gorge, and more were found in 1971 by a park ranger in the same area. In 2006 there was also the frightening experience of a Ivan Levy, whose boat was rammed by two beasts that looked like 20-foot long “lizards with fins.” They apparently swam around his damaged vessel for some time before sinking back down into the depths. One of the creatures was apparently killed in 1875 when a group of Māori found one in a river in Hokianga and set upon it with weapons to slash it and hack it to death. Just a few years later, in 1974 the crew of the Japanese fishing vessel the 28th Konpiramaru was off Lytteleton Peninsula when all 28 crew members saw a grayish reptilian creature with nostrils atop its large head swimming along in the water.
Drawing on talented employees from both New Zealand and around the world, Monster Group’s expansion has brought us to Wellington, and we’re only looking up from here. Freaney, who was astounded by what he was seeing, had the presence of mind to get his camera ready, after which he actually chased it and managed to capture a shot of the fleeing bird, which also reportedly left wet footprints in the mud and across a rock that were also photographed. Such sightings and encounters were most common in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but have continued from time to time even up to very modern times, with several serious expeditions even launched to try and find evidence of the birds, such as a Japanese expedition in 1978, all to no avail, although purported tracks of the creatures have been claimed on occasion. The creature, which was called the Kabagon by the crew, or roughly translated “hippo monster,” remains unexplained. Drawing on talented employees from both New Zealand and around the world, Monster Group’s expansion has brought us to Wellington, and we’re only looking up from here. Mysterious Universe is a property of 8th Kind Pty Ltd, which I have written of at Mysterious Universe before, Demi Lovato Claims Having a UFO and ET Close Encounter in Joshua Tree National Park, When Aliens Dined on Humans: If You Believe the Tale…, Possible Mothman Encounter At O’Hare International Airport, Cause of the Great Plague of London Confirmed, The Mysterious Case of the Arkansas Train Deaths, Howl in Cleveland Park Could be Bigfoot or Ohio Grassman, The Living Ghosts: Tales of Survival and Japan’s Mysterious Lost Soldiers. Working at the Monster Group has let me turn a job into a career! Von Haast apparently found their distinctive webbed tracks along the Ashburton River, and although he never did see one himself he reportedly got his hands on a Waitoreke pelt in 1868, although it is unknown what happened to it. Interested in learning more about what we offer our customers? Perhaps the most recent and most well-known moa sighting report comes from January 20th, 1993, when three friends named Paddy Freaney, Sam Waby and Rochelle Rafferty were hiking in the Craigieburn Mountain Range, which is part of the Southern Alps on New Zealand’s South Island. Our business is doing well, and we intend to do a lot better. Sign up for a Monster account, and we'll send jobs and job-search advice right to your inbox. Another rather shocking large mammal to find in New Zealand would a big cat, but there have been sightings of just such a thing in the the Canterbury area of the South Island.

There can be no doubt that New Zealand has a rich natural history and is populated by all manner of strange and exotic wildlife. More recent still is a 2001 account of some teenagers who claimed to have been surfing in Paekakariki when a huge, crocodilian reptile of some sort came jumping out of the water right n front of them. Do any of the bizarre mystery creatures we have looked at call this land home as well?
Get the MegaPack collection now for this great price. Do any of these actually exist in these wilds?

Reports of outsized lizards in New Zealand date back to the 1700s, when Captain James Cook heard from a local chief of a massive lizard that was greatly feared by the local people and which they said lurked in the trees. It was described as looking very much like an outsized crocodile of some sort, only with fins instead of legs. Tags Bizarre cryptid Cryptozoology modern mysteries mysterious places new zealand Strange Creatures. The country was once home to massive majestic flightless birds called the moa, which somewhat resembled ostriches or emus, and the largest species of which, Dinoris giganteus, towered up to 12 feet in height and weighed over 500 pounds.

In 1998, another sighing of a very large cat was made at the Dunstan Ranges near Cromwell, this time described as not black, but rather with a dark orange coloration, similar to a North American mountain lion.