The Kiwi Bird

By Eva

I am learning to inform my audience through an information report.

The ostrich, the emu and the moa are all relatives to the kiwi, no not the fruit, but the bird that is native to New Zealand. There are five types of kiwi; the North Island Brown kiwi, the Southern Brown kiwi, the Little Spotted kiwi, the Great Spotted kiwi and the Okarito kiwi. The kiwi has an unusually long beak with nostrils at the end. Did you know that the kiwi is the only bird in the world that has nostrils at the end of its beak? Kiwis cannot fly but each individual bird has 13 flight feathers. These birds live for about 40 years in the wild and 30 years in captivity. Kiwis avoid humans as much as they can because they are not social birds. These native birds have many more interesting facts such as it has a body temperature of 38 degrees, which is two degrees lower than other birds and two degrees higher than humans but in order to survive they have to have a healthy food supply.

Diet
Omnivores eat meat and plants and the kiwi is an omnivore. The kiwis diet includes worms, grubs, seeds, insects and invertebrates and the occasional fruit, leaves and berries. The brown kiwi has even been seen to eat fungi and brackets. The kiwi only weighs about 0.9-5 kilograms. Kiwis have very poor eyesight so they normally would be able to smell their prey before they see them. They can dig their beak up to 12cm underground to find food. The kiwi does not really drink water because normally what they eat has water in it. Take a juicy earthworm that earthworm is 85% water. They have an amazing diet but in order to survive they need to have a habitat as well.

Habitat
The kiwis habitat is not like many other birds, it does not make nests. The kiwi makes burrows to live in. Being shy their burrows are usually found in hideous places such as beech forests, temperature podocarp, tussock grasslands, mountains, subalpine scrub and subtropical forests. These native New Zealand birds are normally found in the north island not the south because... They can camouflage in their habitat so they can stay away from predators.

Predators
Did you know that only 5% of kiwis that are hatched in the wild will survive. All because of their nasty predators such as dogs, cats, stoats, possums and ferrets. Kiwis have a very strong musty smell so those predators can smell them from a mile away. Every week an average of 27 kiwis are killed by predators. Without management 10% of baby chicks survive for the first six months.

Kiwis are an important icon to New Zealand. For the kiwi to survive we need to know that they have food, a habitat that provides all their needs, and a safe place in order for the kiwi to be able to survive from threats and predators. The kiwi is a valuable image to all New Zealanders and we must protect the kiwi in order for future generations to know and be able to see a live kiwi and not ones in the museum.