During our
education programs about birds of prey, we tell the audience that most birds do
not use their nose to find food, but their excellent eyesight and hearing. There are some exceptions,
however.
Turkey Vultures have an excellent
sense of smell, allowing them to find dead animals that may be under trees and
bushes. Another bird that uses its
nose to find food is the Kiwi, native only to the forests of New Zealand.
The
kiwi is the national symbol of New Zealand.
There are in fact
five species of Kiwis, which I was surprised to learn. Two are considered vulnerable, one is
endangered, and one is critically endangered all due to the substantial
destruction of their habitat and invasive mammalian predators. These predators include possums,
stoats,
and domestic cats and dogs, all of which were introduced by humans.
The Kiwi gets its
name from the Maori imitation of its cry. The Kiwi is truly a unique bird and has
several interesting characteristics about it. At a glance, they have a long narrow beak, no tail,
large feet, and have little wings that are hidden by their coarse, bristly,
hair-like feathers.
The Kiwi is the only bird that has nostrils at the end of
its beak. They have a very
well-developed sense of smell which they use to find insects, grubs, worms, and
other invertebrates underground.
They will drive their long beak into the ground to catch them. They will also eat berries and seeds off
the forest floor.
These mostly
nocturnal birds are flightless.
Their one-inch wings are useless. They also lack a keel (bone for
attachment of large flight muscles) on the
breastbone, and have tough, thick skin.
All are adaptations for terrestrial life. They don’t have hollow bones either; they have marrow inside
them like us. They do have very
strong, muscular legs, which make up about one third of their weight. Despite its small (adults are about 15
inches tall) and awkward appearance, a Kiwi can outrun a human!
Kiwis typically
mate for life, unless a more attractive male wanders along. Their lifespan is unknown; however, it is guessed to be about 40 years in the wild. The male will dig a burrow where the female will lay
(usually) one egg. The Kiwi lays
the largest egg in proportion to its size of any bird in the world. One egg can reach up to 20
percent of its mother's weight, which would be like a 150 pound woman giving
birth to a 30 pound baby! The
female Kiwi must eat three times her normal amount of food during the 30 days
the egg is growing. However, two
to three days before the egg is laid, there is no more room for any food in her
stomach, so she is forced to fast.
Relative size of a Kiwi egg to the female.
The male will be the sole incubator of the egg. Kiwi chicks hatch fully feathered with
their eyes open and begin foraging for small worms and berries after their
first week of life. It may stay
with Dad for up to 20 days before going on its own.
What does the future hold for the Kiwi? Like many of New Zealand’s flightless
birds, the Kiwi has suffered from habitat loss and the introduction of new
predators, like cats and dogs. A
Kiwi recovery program called BNZ Save
the Kiwi Trust was launched in 2002 in New Zealand. Also, Operation
Nest Egg collects Kiwi eggs
from the wild and raises the chicks until they are large enough to defend
themselves against predators.
People living near Kiwi areas have learned to keep their pets leashed or
indoors and to slow down their cars at Kiwi caution signs.
Loose pets in the United States are also a detriment to wild
bird populations, so please restrain them!
If you want to help endangered birds,
part of the World Bird Sanctuary’s mission is to secure the future of
threatened bird species in their natural environments. You can help us fulfill our mission by simply
visiting us and spreading what you’ve learned, becoming a member or friend, or
adopting-a-bird, which helps us feed that bird
for a year!
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