Manaia (mythological creature) Manaia (mythological creature) The Manaia is a mythological creature in Māori culture, and is a common motif in Māori carving and jewellery. The Manaia is usually depicted as having the head of a bird and the tail of a fish and the body of a man, though it is sometimes depicted as a bird, a serpent, or a human figure in profile. Other interpretations include a seahorse and a lizard. The word "manaia" is cognate with the founding Samoan term "fa'amanaia", and relevant to the Niuean "fakamanaia", both meaning to make a decoration or embellishment. The Manaia is traditionally believed
Common minke whale common minke whale was recognized as a separate species from the Antarctic minke whale based on mitochondrial DNA testing. This testing also confirmed that the Antarctic minke whale is the closest relative of the common minke whale, thus confirming the validity of the minke whale clade. Common and Antarctic minke whales diverged from each other in the Southern Hemisphere 4.7 million years ago, during a prolonged period of global warming in the early Pliocene which disrupted the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and created local pockets of upwelling, facilitating speciation by fragmenting populations. The radiation of common minke whales into the Northern