Maero

{{Short description|Supernatural people in Māori mythology}}

{{For|the American baritone|Philip Maero}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

{{no footnotes|date=October 2016}}

In Māori tradition, the Maero (or Mohoao) are an iwi-atua or supernatural people from New Zealand. They are sometimes described as giants or wild men of the woods, and inhabit mountains and forest, particularly in the South Island and Tararua Range.{{cite book |last1=Cowan |first1=James |title=Legends of the Maori |date=1987 |publisher=Southern Reprints |location=New Zealand |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Pom01Lege-t1-body-d11.html |access-date=6 October 2019}}{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Richard |title=A Leaf from the Natural History of New Zealand |publisher=Robert Stokes |location=Wellington |date=1848 |page=viii |url=https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-TayALea-t1-body-d1.html#n13 |via=NZETC}} Maero are characterised as wild, malevolent and often violent, carrying stone clubs as weapons. They are covered in dark body hair and have long, bony fingers with sharp fingernails. They kill and eat humans and other animals.

The Maero are said to harbour anger towards the Māori, who arrived from Hawaiki, and are thought to have displaced them and ruined the tapu (sacredness) of their homes, forcing them to dwell in inhospitable alpine regions.