Context: Conservationists have registered the first wild birth of two brown kiwi chicks in New Zealand in 150 years. This is being noted as a major success of conservation efforts.
About KIWIS
- Kiwis are flightless bird’s endemic to New Zealand. They are national bird of New Zealand.
- Kiwis are chiefly nocturnal animals and commonly forest dwellers.
- The name is a Maori word referring to the shrill call of the male.
- Approximately the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are the smallest ratites (which also include ostriches, emus, rheas, cassowaries and the extinct elephant birds and moas).
- Kiwi eggs are one of the largest in proportion to body size (up to 20% of the female's weight) of any order of bird in the world.
- The closest relatives to today’s kiwi are the extinct elephant birds from Madagascar. They are also related to emus and cassowaries of Australia, and the extinct moa of New Zealand.
- There are five species of kiwi and their IUCN status.
- Brown kiwi (Vulnerable)
- Great spotted kiwi/roroa (Vulnerable)
- Little spotted kiwi (Near Threatened)
- Rowi (Vulnerable)
- Tokoeka (Vulnerable)
- Kiwi can live for between 25 and 50 years. Chicks hatch fully feathered.
- They emerge from the nest to feed at about five days old and are never fed by their parents.
- Juveniles grow slowly, taking three to five years to reach adult size.
Distribution of Kiwis
Threats to Kiwis
- The biggest threat to kiwi chicks is stoats, and to adult kiwi it's dogs.
- Cats also kill kiwi chicks, and ferrets frequently kill adult kiwi.