KIWIS
Kiwi Facts
Quick Facts
An average of 27 kiwi are killed by predators EVERY WEEK. Thats a population decline of around 1,400 kiwi every year (or 2%). At this rate, kiwi may disappear from mainland New Zealand in our lifetime. Just one hundred years ago, kiwi numbered in the millions.
A single roaming dog can wipe out an entire kiwi population in a matter of days.
Approximately 20% of the kiwi population is under management.
In areas under where predators are controlled, 50-60% of chicks survive. When areas are not under management 95% of kiwi die before reaching breeding age.
Only 20% survival rate of kiwi chicks is needed for the population to increase.
Proof of success: on the Coromandel, in the predator controlled area, the kiwi population is doubling every decade.
The following is the call of a female kiwi.
Honarary Mammals
Kiwis habits and physical characteristics make them unbird-like in many ways. Sometimes they are referred to as an honorary mammal.
The kiwis powerful muscular legs are heavy and marrow-filled, like a mammal, with skin as tough as shoe-leather. They make up a third of the birds weight. The skeletons of most birds are light and filled with air sacs to enable flight.
The eye sockets of most birds are separated by a plate, but in kiwi they are divided by large nasal cavities, just like most mammals.
While most birds depend on sight, the kiwi relies on a highly developed sense of smell and touch. The kiwis sense of 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.
A kiwis plumage is shaggy and hair-like, and it has cat-like whiskers on its face and around the base of its beak. These super-sensitive way-finding whiskers are likely to have evolved to help the bird feel its way through the dark.