KIWI BIRDS  



Do you know about Kiwi Birds?  

WHERE DO KIWIS LIVE? 

Kiwis have been is existence in New Zealand for at least 70 million years.
They cannot be found anywhere else in the world. They are the smallest member of a group of birds called Ratites. Ostriches, emus, cassowaries and rheas are also Ratites. Ratites are all flightless birds as they have a completely flat breastbone.

 WHAT DO KIWIS LOOK LIKE ?

Kiwis have very small wings of 5-6cm long, with a little claw on the end. They have shaggy feathers that look like hair. Around the base of a Kiwi’s bill is a collection of bristles or whiskers that it uses as a sensory mechanism.
The Kiwi has very acute sense of hearing but poor eyesight as it has only small eyes. Kiwis have an extra toe, three on the front of the foot and one at the back. The Kiwi’s legs are very muscular and powerful and account for one third of its total body weight.
The male Kiwi communicates with a series of shrill, prolonged whistles. The female Kiwi has a shorter, hoarser cry.  

WHAT DO KIWIS EAT?

The Kiwis are just like the Moondarians!!! 
Worms form a major part of a Kiwi’s diet. They also eat snails, slugs, spiders, seeds, insects, berries and plants.  The Kiwi has a very well developed sense of smell which it uses to find food. It has nostrils on the very tip of the upper mandible. Kiwis feed at night and probe into the ground with their bill, smelling for food.  

THEIR BABIES

 Kiwis lay eggs and their eggs are the largest eggs in the world in comparison to the size of the bird. The male then sits on the eggs until they hatch. This takes 74-90 days.
 It takes up to 15months for a male kiwi to mature and up to 3 years for a female kiwi to mature.  

THEIR HOME

 The Kiwis live in native forests in New Zealand. Unfortunately, their habitat has been destroyed over the past 150 years, to make way for farming. So the only Kiwis left are in the remains of the native forests and it is estimated that there are probably only a couple of hundred left in the North Island. However, when the Kiwis build their nest, the male Kiwi digs a burrow underground and then it lines the floor and sides of the chamber with plant material.
The life span of a kiwi is 50 years. 

 THREATS TO THE LIFESPAN OF KIWIS

 Introduced predators such as dogs, cats, ferrets, wild pigs and rats have devastated the Kiwis. Stoats and cats kill 95 per cent of kiwi chick before they are six months old. This means that the number of Kiwis are halving every decade. Now there are only 40,000 to 50,000 left in the wild, and they are in serious danger of extinction. 

 If you would like to see the Kiwi Birds, when you are next in New Zealand, contact Kiwi Encounter at Rainbow Springs, Fairy Springs Road, PO Box 25, Rotorua, New Zealand. 

 Click here to see more