KIWI BIRDS

WHERE DO KIWI BIRDS COME FROM?Kiwi are endemic to the island

country of New Zealand.

WHY ARE KIWI BIRDS IMPORTANT TO US?It is the national bird of New Zealand.

It is an icon to them like the bald eagle is to the US. They use it on flags, sports symbols (football team and cricket teams are often called the Kiwis by other sports team's nations), coins and it is kind of like national pride. It is a term of endearment and identity.

WHERE DO KIWI BIRD LIVES?The kiwi is native to New Zealand. Its natural habitat is native forests but it is now found in kauri and coniferous forest where the undergrowth is dominated by tree ferns, as well as temperate rainforests. However, due to habitat clearing, the kiwi is now forced to survive in semi-wooded forest, scrubland and agricultural areas.

WHAT DO KIWI BIRDS EAT?

Kiwi primarily eat earthworms, fruit, seeds, fungi, insect larvae and other invertebrates. They have been known to eat eels, freshwater crayfish, small lizards and even frogs. The kiwi is unique in having its nostrils located at the tip of the beak, and it has a very highly developed sense of smell, being able to smell out food beneath the surface of the ground. Kiwi will dig their beaks into the ground to a depth that extends the entire length of the bill in order to find earthworms and other invertebrates

HISTORY The earliest evidence of kiwi in New Zealand is a fossilised leg bone about 1 million years old - but we believe kiwi have been here for much longer.Kiwi are part of a bird family called 'ratites' and are related to African ostriches, the South American rhea and Australian emus.

INTERESTING FACTS-The kiwi is the smallest living member of the ratite family, a group of flightless birds which includes rheas, ostriches, emu and the extinct NZ moa. It lives in burrows in the ground and is largely nocturnal-Kiwis are unique in that they have no tail, and stubby, two inch wings that are usually covered by their coarse, bristly, hair-like feathers. These wings are pretty much useless.-It means that in many ways the kiwi is a very unbird-like bird. Its skin is tough as shoe-leather, its feathers are like hair, its bones are heavy, its wings end in a cat-like claw and its body temperature is 38° Celcius, lower than most other birds.

RECENT EVENTSThe tiny, fluffy bird, which was born early Wednesday, does not yet have a name. The zoo's biologists will be able to determine its sex next week. It's the younger sibling of another kiwi born at the zoo last December. Kiwis grow to about the size of a domestic chicken. All five species of kiwi are native to New Zealand, and all are on the endangered species list. But the coolest thing about kiwis: They lay the largest egg relative to body size of any bird in the world