The Kiwi bird basics
The Kiwi (pronounced KEE-wee), a national symbol for New Zealand, is one of the nation's many flightless birds. Kiwi's didn't need to fly because there weren't any land mammal predators before man arrived to New Zealand some 1000 years ago.
The Kiwi is a member of the ratite group, like Emu, Ostrich or Moa. Like other ratite birds, it has a flat breastbone without the usual raised keel to which wing muscles would be attached.
They are about the size of a domestic chicken.
Like a mammal?
The Kiwi is truly unique. Although it is a bird, the Kiwi is one-of-a-kind and has been called an 'honorary mammal'.
Kiwi’s have powerful muscular legs that are heavy and marrow-filled, like a mammal. The skin on their legs is as tough as shoe leather, and their legs make up a third of their weight.
The eye sockets of most birds are separated by a plate, but in Kiwi they are divided by large nasal cavities, just like mammals. While most birds rely on sight, the Kiwi depends on a highly developed sense of smell and touch. In fact, its sense of smell is second to none among birds.
The Kiwi’s hearing is also well developed. Its ear openings are large and visible, and it will cock its head to direct its ear toward soft or distant noises.
Unlike most birds which have one ovary, a female Kiwi has two, like a mammal. If she produces more than one egg in a clutch, ovulation occurs in alternate ovaries. The chick emerges from its enormous egg as a mini adult, fully feathered and able to feed itself, which is very unusual for a bird.
A Kiwi’s plumage is shaggy and hair-like, and it has whiskers on its face and around its beak. These sensitive whiskers are likely to have evolved to help the bird feel its way around in the dark.
Ouch, that's gotta hurt!
At the extreme, the Kiwi bird can lay an egg that weighs up to 25% of its body mass. Proportionally, this is by far the largest egg of any bird in the world. It’s like a chicken laying a one pound egg, or, more graphically, a human giving birth to a four-year-old child. Ouch!
Despite the horror-inducing image of producing an egg this size, Kiwis are highly productive and an adult female will usually lay one of these giant eggs every year.
Females Kiwis produce eggs at little additional energetic cost. Half the energy needed is obtained from stored energy reserves instead of the bird having to forage for food during pregnancy.
The Kiwi 'Legend'
Māori have always regarded the Kiwi as a special bird. They knew it as 'te manu huna a Tāne', the hidden bird of Tāne, god of the forest. Some say according to Māori legend the Kiwi bird was blessed by Tāne Mahuta for its bravery.
Protecting the Kiwi
