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What
are kiwi?
The
kiwi is the smallest living member of the ratite family
(Apterygidae), a group of flightless birds which includes
the rheas of South America, the ostriches of Africa, the
emu of Australia and the extinct moa of New Zealand. There
are six different species of kiwi, The Little Spotted Kiwi,
Great Spotted Kiwi, Brown Kiwi, Okarito, Haast Tokoeka and
the Southern Tokoeka. This country’s ancient isolation
and lack of mammals allowed the kiwi to occupy a habitat
and lifestyle that elsewhere would be occupied by mammals.
The kiwi is a unique bird and has become an icon for the
New Zealand ’spirit’ and an emblem of national
identity.
Different
species
There are six identified species of kiwi (genus Apteryx).
The Little Spotted Kiwi (Apteryx owenii) is extinct on
the mainland and survives as 1,000 birds on Kapiti Island
and 100 (by transfer) on four smaller islands. Great Spotted
Kiwi (A. haastii) are found only in the South Island (10-20,000
birds). Brown Kiwi (A. mantelli) are still widespread
in the central and northern North Island. The Okarito
kiwi is a distinct sub species of only 125 birds. It lives
in lowland forest just north of Franz Josef. Haast Tokoeka
is found in the rugged mountains behind Haast.They spend
their summers in the high subalpine tussock grasslands
but probably retreat to the lowland forest in winter.The
Southern Tokoeka lives in Fiordland and on Stewart Island
where they can sometimes be seen feeding during the day.
It is much more communal than its northern cousins.
Habitat
Kiwi can live in a variety of habitats and were once found
from sea level to alpine environments, in scrubland, farmland,
swamps, pine forest and vegetated gullies. Today they
fight for survival threatened by the introduction of pests.
Deforestation, farming, stoats, ferrets, feral cats, pigs
and dogs are the greatest threats to the survival of kiwi.
Young kiwi are the most vulnerable to predation, being
only 200g when they leave the nest with no parental care,
they are small, slow and an easy target for the first
12 months. Adult will stand up to predators or, with their
large feet and long legs, run away amongst the dense undergrowth.
Kiwi
facts
-
It cannot fly, burrows in the ground and is largely
nocturnal.
- It
has one of the largest egg-to-body weight ratios of
any bird. The mature egg averages 20% of the female’s
body weight (compared to 2% for an ostrich). Eggs take
up to 80 days to hatch.
-
The female is bigger than the male. In the North Island,
the male brown kiwi does most of the egg incubating.
- It
is the only known bird to have external nostrils at
the end of its bill and one of the few to have a highly
developed sense of smell. A kiwi literally sniffs out
its food. It uses its bill also to smell danger.
- It
has loose, hair-like feathers and long whiskers.
- Kiwi
live in pairs and mate for life (sometimes as long as
30 years).
- It
eats mostly earthworms, spiders, forest invertebrates
and fallen fruits but has been known to eat freshwater
crayfish, frogs and eels.
- It
is extremely territorial and will fight to protect its
’patch’ (as much as 40 hectares) by calling
or chasing the intruder and will fight using its razor-sharp
claws
Fight
for survival
Now the kiwi is fighting for survival in its traditional
habitat, the result of a multitude of causes, from humans
destroying forests and clearing land for farming, to introduced
predators such as possums, stoats, ferrets, feral cats,
pigs and dogs. The greatest threat is to young kiwi which
leave the nest at three weeks weighing only 200g. Small
and slow, they are easy prey and few survive from birth
to 12 months. Adults can stand up to some predators.
Helping
the kiwi
The Department of Conservation, in partnership with the
Bank of New Zealand
and the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, launched
the Kiwi Recovery Programme in 1991. The programme is to
ensure that kiwi are safeguarded from possible extinction
on mainland New Zealand. It combines research and action
and has three major goals: to maintain the genetic variety
of species and sub-species; to increase the number of kiwi;
and to increase the number of places they can live.
What
we are doing
At Pukaha Mount Bruce we have two captive kiwi. They are North
Island Brown kiwi and the female is "Rangi" and
the male is "Tua". They are fed a daily mixture
of ground beef, mixed vegetables, a commercial dried insect
powder and cat biscuits. We feed the kiwi via plastic tubes
as this enables the kiwi to get their long bills into the
tubes. We also offer them worms, slaters, crickets, and other
such insects. Kiwi have nostrils at the end of their bills
and use their nostrils to sniff out their food. They can be
seen poking and probing their bills into the leaf litter to
find their food.
To
ensure our kiwi are kept in top condition they have a check-up
every three months. We catch the birds, examine them looking
for mites or injuries and then we weigh them. Rangi weighs
around 2.5 kgs and Tua almost 2kgs. We also take faecal
samples from both birds and get them tested at a laboratory.
The kiwi are also observed every day by staff as they move
around their enclosure so we can notice any problems straight
away.
We also put in barrow loads of leaf litter every month in
each kiwi enclosure. This is collected from our forest and
provides the kiwi with extra insects and invertebrates and
a natural environment for them. We also put in ponga logs,
small trees and other such things of interest which the
kiwi just love to examine. It's good for them to have this
kind of behavioural enrichment as out in the wild, kiwi
cover very large areas and come across all sorts of obstacles
that they have to negotiate.
Inside our kiwi enclosures is a special lighting system
that enables the public to see the kiwi during the day.
Normally kiwi are nocturnal but in captivity its possible
to reverse the lighting so that the enclosure are dimly
lit during the day and the kiwi thinks its their "day
time" and during our night time, the kiwi think it's
their "night time" and go to their burrows to
sleep!! The lights that are on during the "night time"
are special lights that give off UV light that help the
plants to grow.
We also have specially designed mouse boxes to catch any
mice that might be present in the enclosures. Sometimes
they come in with the leaf litter and we have to put mouse
traps inside ice creams containers and then inside large
wooden boxes so that the kiwi don't catch their bills in
a trap which would of course be disastrous for them !
More
about kiwi in Pukaha Mount Bruce here...
Kiwi
Pictures here...
Find out more about BNZ Kiwi Recovery here....
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