#apteryx

Little Spotted Kiwi (Apteryx owenii), Apterygidae, order Apterygiformes, New Zealand

Near Threatened.

The smallest of the 5 kiwi species.

In pre-European times occurred in both main islands, but is now mostly restricted to a number of small offshore islands.

They were rediscovered on the South Island in the Adams Wilderness Area in Summer of 2025.

Once endangered, exhaustive recovery work has brought this species back from the brink!

Kiwi (Apteryx) - a genus of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. They're the smallest of the ratites, a group that includes ostriches, emus, cassowaries, the extinct moas and elephant birds - kiwi's closest relatives, with both lineages diverging 54 million years ago. There are five species of kiwi found in habitats ranging from subalpine scrub to podocarp forests throughout New Zealand. While none overlap today, they were widespread before the introduction of mammals such as stoats, the kiwi's main predator, and several species coexisted.

Despite differences in size, colour and habitat, all kiwi species share traits such as sexual dimorphism; females are larger than males, reliance on hearing and smell rather than sight, an omnivorous diet, and a nocturnal lifestyle; possibly a result of mammalian predators.

Kiwis were thought to be closely related to the extinct moa due to shared traits. However, DNA studies show they're closer to Madagascar's elephant birds, rather than to the moa, with which they shared New Zealand. The kiwi's massive eggs were once thought to be a shared trait with its relatives, the elephant birds; which laid the largest eggs ever recorded. However, it's now thought to be an adaptation for precocity, allowing the chicks to hatch mobile with yolk to sustain them. Fossils of the extinct genus of kiwi - Proapteryx, suggest that their ancestors were capable of flight and lost this ability after reaching New Zealand. This also suggests that kiwis arrived in New Zealand independently and much later than the Moas, which were already there.

Southern Brown Kiwi Apteryx australis

A kiwi bird from the South Island of New Zealand. It is a monogamous species and once paired up, they will defend their territories with warning calls. They will also sing duets with each other, with the male shrill "kee-wee" or "kee-kee" and the females hoarse " kurr kurr".

Photo source

One of Aotearoa's iconic flightless birds - in fact the human inhabitants of the island are frequently referred to as Kiwis. 'Apteryx' means 'without wings'. Generally the case with the humans, too.

The picture above is the photo the Hokitika Kiwi Centre gives you if you go in to see their resident birds - Kiwi are nocturnal and do NOT react well to flash photography, or bright light in general. The US zoo that was running Kiwi encounters in daylight caused an international incident when New Zealand found out. You probably could have heard the collective howl of outrage from across the Pacific.

Apteryx mantelli is part of the Brown Kiwi species complex - three species that were all considered Apteryx australis until genetic evidence proved otherwise. There's two other Kiwi species as well.

Females stand about 40 cm (16 in) in height and weigh a little over two and a half kilos.

Not, in fact, closely related to Aotearoa's enormous but equally flightless Moa - their closest known relatives are Madagascar's extinct Elephant Birds, and fossils from the St Bathams Fauna suggest the Kiwi's ancestors flew there well after the moa were already flightless. Their closest living relatives are the emu and cassowary of Australia.

Once they arrived, they promptly occupied one of the ecological niches that eslewhere are occupied by mammals. Kiwi are omnivores, and use their long beaks to probe for worms and other invertebrates in the leaf litter and soil. They have an extraordinarily good sense of smell for a bird. They've also been seen fishing for crayfish.

Kiwi as extremely vunerable to dog attack, which is just one reason all the species are considered Vulnerable to Critically Endangered. Stoats are another serious threat to younger birds, which is why eggs are taken from nests and reared in captivity until they're big enough to kick a stoat to death. Quite territorial - the captive birds patrolled the edges of their pens very intensely when the other bird was visible.

During the day, and when nesting, they live in burrows. They're also infamous for the size of their eggs, up to a quarter of the size of the hen. Unsurprisingly, after laying up to seven of those in a season, the hens want nothing to do with actually incubating the eggs. Chicks are precocious, entirely capable of walking and foraging within days of hatching.

The Apteryx