The kiwi soared to victory as Bird of the Year in 2009 by the voting public

'Save the Kiwi" is an annual fundraising campaign led by Kiwis for kiwi each October

Great Spotted Kiwi / Roroa (Apteryx haastii)

Found in North West Nelson, Paparoa Range, & Arthur’s Pass. Stands 45cm tall. Females weigh c3.3kg & males c.2.4kg.

NZ Sign Language (NZSL): Great Spotted Kiwi

Little Spotted Kiwi (Apteryx owenii)

Found in Kapiti Island & 7 other islands & 3 mainland sanctuaries. Stands 30cm tall. Females weigh 1.35kg & males 1.15kg

NZSL: Little Spotted Kiwi

North Island Brown Kiwi (Apteryx mantelli)

4 genetic forms: Northland, Coromandei, Western, & Eastern. Stands 40cm tall. Females weigh 2.7kg & males 2kg

NZSL: North Island Brown Kiwi

Rowi / Okarito Kiwi (Apteryx rowi)

Found in Ōkārito in Sth Westland & islands of Marlborough Sounds. Stand 40cm tall. Females weigh 2.6kg & males 1.9kg.

Southern Brown Kiwi / Tokoeka (Apteryx australis)

3 genetic forms: Haast, Fiordland, & Rakiura (Stewart Island). Stands 45cm tall. Females weigh 3.1kg & males 2.4kg.

NZSL: Southern Brown Kiwi

For Māori, the kiwi is symbolic of their elder brothers and sisters, representing protective spirits

The feathers are valued in weaving kahu kiwi (kiwi feather cloak) for people of high rank

Kahu kiwi are considered to carry the wairua (spirit) of the birds whose feathers were used

Video: How the kiwi lost his wings

Kiwi helped Tane save the forests being eaten by insects, by living on the forest floor

A kiwi pair usually only have one partner at a time. Partnerships have been known to last over 20 years.

Males are sexually mature at 18 months & females can lay their first eggs when about 3 years old

Kiwi may dig their nesting burrows up to 2 months before the first egg is laid, & may re-use an existing nest

They line the nest with soft leaves, grass & moss

Kiwi usually produce one egg per year, except the Brown kiwi which can have up to 2 eggs and 2-3 clutches a year

One egg takes 30 days to form inside a female. Size is 120 millimetres long & 80 millimetres in diameter.

An egg takes up to 15-20% of female's body mass & can weigh up to 0.5 kilo (6 times larger than birds of similar size)

To produce such a large egg, the female kiwi must eat three times as much as usual

Brown kiwi & Little spotted kiwi males incubate the egg. With other species, the male and female kiwi share incubation.

Average incubation time is 70-80 days. If there is a second egg, it will be laid about 25 days after the first.

Most bird eggs are 35-40% yolk but the kiwi’s is 65% yolk which helps sustains them for the first 5-10 days of life

Parents do not need to feed the chick as it hatches with an external yolk sac which is absorbed through its naval

Chicks take 3-5 years to reach adult size & live for between 25-50 years

The flat chest gave ratites their name – ‘ratis’ means ‘raft’ in Latin, a boat without a keel

Recent DNA studies of Madagascar’s extinct giant elephant bird, indicate it was the kiwi's closest relative

The kiwi is of the genus Apteryx, which means wingless, and of the family Apterygidae

Kiwi's sternum (breastbone) is smooth, or raftlike, because it lacks a keel to which flight muscles could be anchored

Kiwi have a very small vestigial wing, with a tiny cat-like claw on the end & no tail feathers.

External nostrils at the tip of their long beak (c.12cms), & large olfactory bulbs (area of brain), aid smelling of food

Kiwi have big ear openings which provide a very good sense of hearing, including the sound of other kiwi calling

Kiwi have big feet and claws. They can fight off most of their attackers with powerful kicks.

Their feet are about 30% of their body weight. (NZOnScreen documentatry about kiwi, including feeding & patrolling)

Kiwi have strong, sturdy legs that are marrow-filled. They can easily reach ground speeds of up to 19 km/h.

A kiwi has 3 front toes. It's fourth toe is high up at the back & doesn’t leave an imprint except in very deep mud.

Unlike other birds, the kiwi's feathers are not connected by hooks or barbs that lock together to aid flying & swimming

The kiwi has shaggy & hair-like feathers that look like fur. Unlike other birds, the feathers moult throughout the year.

The patterns on kiwi feathers help to camouflage, enabling them to 'disappear' in the dark, or among tussock and bracken

When distressed, a kiwi freezes, disguising itself from aerial predators

Their calls can be heard at dusk & dawn

Kiwi use calls to indicate their location so that other kiwi do not invade their territory & to find each other if lost

A kiwi sleeps standing up. Like many birds, it often turns its head back against its body and tucks it under its wing.

Some stay in family groups in same territory: Great spotted kiwi for a year, & Stewart Island tokoeka & rowi for 7 years

Some Brown kiwi leave their parents’ territory when four-to-six weeks old and are fully independent

May have up to 50 daytime burrows in their territory: hole in bank, hollow tree or logs, rock crack, or dense vegetation

Great spotted kiwi have deep burrows with tunnels several metres long & more than one exit

When it's not foraging, a kiwi patrols its territory. It will leave behind highly odorous droppings to mark its area.

By knowing kiwi social patterns (e.g. family groups are territorial), kiwi can be released away from occupied areas

It taps the ground with its beak, probes the soil, smells through the nostrils at the end of its beak, & listens

A kiwi can locate an earthworm up to 3cms underground by tapping & probing its beak

Senses movement using its two sensory pits at the end of its beak & whiskers on its face & bristles under its beak

Worms form a major part of Kiwi's diet

Brown kiwi have been known to eat frogs, & capture & eat freshwater crayfish/koura

In captivity, kiwi have fished eels/tuna out of a pond

The kiwi's gizzard usually contains grit and small stones, to aid digestion

Around 80 years ago, kiwi population was c.5 million. Nowadays, c.68,000 kiwi in NZ (Source: Department of Conservation)

NZOnScreen documentary "Who's killing the kiwi?"

Average of 20 kiwi killed every week, which is population decline of c.2% every year

Stoats are biggest threat to chicks. When chicks reach about one kilogram in weight, they can usually defend themselves.

Rodents compete for the same food as kiwi, which attracts stoats that eat rats & attack kiwi

Cats also kill kiwi chicks

Dogs are the biggest threat to adult kiwi. In Northland, the life expectancy of brown kiwi has reduced to 14 years.

Ferrets frequently kill adult kiwi

Threats also include habitat loss - dunes, estuaries, wetlands, & lowland forests into pasture - and natural disasters

Another threat is being struck by a motor vehicle

To report a sick, injured, or dead kiwi, you can contact 0800 DOC HOT (0800 362 468)

DOC set up five kiwi sanctuaries in 2000

Whangārei Kiwi Sanctuary (Northland brown kiwi): 50-60% of chicks survive their first 6 months compared with 11% outside

Moehau Kiwi Sanctuary (Coromandel brown kiwi). Numbers ares doubling every decade due to intensive predator control.

Tongariro Forest Kiwi Sanctuary near Taupō (Western brown kiwi)

Haast Tokoeka Kiwi Sanctuary (Haast tokoeka)

Okarito Kiwi Sanctuary (Rowi)

Video of 'Joey the Rowi' & DOC's role in helping kiwi to survive in Okarito on the West Coast

Video of the Opouahi Pan Pac Kiwi Crèche – a predator-proof area for young kiwi in the Hawkes Bay

Video shows the health check carried out with kiwi at Opouahi Pan Pac Kiwi Crèche

Video of Rowi kiwi being released near Fox Glacier. (2018)

Video of two Coromandel brown kiwi being moved to predator free Motutapu Island, in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park (2014)

Without management only 10% of kiwi chicks survive to the age of six months

RNZ (17 Sept 2020): Govt announced c. $20m fund to help increase kiwi bird population to 100,000 through Jobs for Nature

RNZ (10 April 2021) : Six kiwi were released onto the Kaitake range in Te Papakura o Taranaki / Egmont National Park

RNZ (19 Jan 2023): 1st wild kiwi egg laid in Wellington in over a century in Mākara Hills after 11 released in Nov 2022

An annual fundraising programme for "Kiwis saving kiwi" has been held during October. (See website: Save the kiwi)

DOC staff as trackers

Video on tracking kiwi on Kāpiti Island

Radio transmitters used to track kiwi

Radio tracking, footprint size recording and surveys using specially trained dogs to find kiwi are used

Transmitter attached to the kiwi's leg tracks where the bird is, when an egg is laid and when a chick hatches

DOC's kiwi call monitoring programme involves listening for two hours over four nights in the bush at each station

RNZ (2 July 2020): Seven Brown kiwi discovered at Matarangi's Rings Beach Wetland in Coromandel through recordings

Conservation dogs

Department of Conservation staff trained Tess to sniff out kiwi

Video of conservation dogs used to survey the kiwi population within the Rotokare Scenic Reserve

Video of dogs searching for kiwi at Mountain Sanctuary Maungatautari for translocation to Waimarino Forest

Video of DOC staff catching kiwi at Orokonui Ecosanctuary near Dunedin, to send to a predator free island

Video of DOC's "Save Our Iconic Kiwi" project

Video of kiwi conservation project at Cape Kidnappers in the Hawkes Bay

Video of the Kiwi Care Group in Whenuakite

Video of DOC staff educating locals about the kiwi that nest close to roads and farmland at Purua near Whangarei

Video of how dogs can be trained to avoid kiwi by using a short sharp shock on electric collar

Video on how to create a tracking tunnel to track down pests like rats, stoats and mice. and earn a Kiwi Guardian medal

Te Ara: First use of Kiwi as a symbol for NZ as a nation in a 1904 cartoon by J.C. Blomfield

Kiwi Boot Polish invented 1906 by Scottish-born William Ramsay living in Melbourne who named it after his wife's country

When Kiwi Boot Polish was marketed widely in Britain & USA during WWI, our soldiers became known as Kiwis

At Sling Camp, near Bulford on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, NZ soldiers carved a chalk kiwi into nearby hiil

The kiwi started appearing on the Bank of New Zealand one pound note during late 19th century

When first NZ pictorial stamps were issued in 1898, the kiwi was on the sixpenny stamp

This kiwi, adorned with the New Zealand flag, is at the southern entrance to Ōtorohanga

The term 'kiwi' also used in names of government services & state-owned enterprises

Nowadays, the term "Kiwi" is used as symbol for NZ as a country, & to represent New Zealanders