Pekapeka

bird · New Zealand · Pacific

Pekapeka is the Māori name for the bat, New Zealand's only native land mammal, a creature of the night tied to omens in traditional belief. In some accounts the night-flying bird hōkioi, whose cry was said to foretell death, is linked to pekapeka, and bats could act as messengers of the spirit world. Conservation efforts now use pekapeka for the two surviving native bat species.

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