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There are several theories about the origin of Kunekunes. A long time it was believed they were a cross breed from indigenous New Zealand pigs and pigs brought from the UK to New Zealand by Captain Cook. This is not probable because both types of pigs don't have the typical piripiri (tassles) the Kunekune have.
Another theory is that the Maori people brought the Kunekunes in the canoes from their original homes in Polynesia.
A likely theory, that is so far substantiated by DNA research, is that whalers from the USA and Spain brought an Asian pig (the Old Poland, which originated in China) to New Zealand, or the islands off the coast of New Zealand and swapped the pigs for tobacco and other things with the Maori. The Old Poland is the only other type of pig that has tassles, like the Kunekune...
DNA research is still being continued until it will completely sure where the Kunekune originally came from.
Following the arrival of European settlers the number of Kunekunes in New Zealand began to plunge. The Maori started adopting new European ways of feeding themselves.
Kunekune fat was no longer used for conservation of food, but was replaced by salt. Around 1972 two wildlife park owners, Micheal Willis and John Simister, realised the Kunekune was about to become extinct and started a breeding programme. Of the only 50 remaining Kunekunes on the island, 18 were used for the breeding programme. In 1992 a group of Kunekunes left for the UK to minimize the possibilty of losing the whole population to some disease or disaster (thus spreading the risk).
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