Kiwi Conservation At The Otorohanga Kiwi House

The kiwi is New Zealand’s iconic national bird and an important part of our unique natural heritage. They are feisty, intelligent and inquisitve birds which is why New Zealanders like to call themselves 'Kiwis'.

We hold over twenty brown kiwi on site as part of a nationwide captive breeding programme for brown kiwi. We are also a pre-release conditioning site for brown kiwi preparing to be released into the wild. We currently hold Northland, western and eastern provenance brown kiwi.

When our kiwi are younger, we display them in specially designed nocturnal enclosures where the day and night cycles have been reversed. Visitors to the park can see these young kiwi during the day carrying out their normal kiwi behaviour such as probing for insects and earthworms in the soil, bathing in the ponds, and digging burrows or climbing logs. The enclosures have native plants, leaf litter, soil and logs that host a wide range of invertebrates and fruits which make up the majority of the kiwi diet. We also offer kiwi a specially prepared artificial diet to supplement the live food which enables us to feed kiwi if they are in transit or for some reason needed to be cared for in another setting. This also helpds keep kiwi in excellent body condition during breeding.

Our breeding age kiwi are in large off-display enclosures nearby, where they are free to raise their chicks. Once kiwi have been bred to capture their genetic material in the breeding programme they are released into predator controlled habitats to increase the number and genetic diversity of kiwi in the wild.

We have been conserving and breeding Kiwi since 1971 and were the first Kiwi House in New Zealand to display and breed kiwi and artificially incubate kiwi in captivity for release back to the wild. We have bred three species of kiwi on site; Brown Kiwi, Great Spotted Kiwi and Little Spotted Kiwi. To date we have successfully hatched over 160 kiwi chicks and released these to the wild. We are also involved in carrying out research that will assist kiwi survival in the wild and best practice in kiwi husbandry.

Kiwi diet

Our kiwi have plenty of natural food sources inside their enclosures. They probe in the soil and leaf litter for insects, worms, spiders and native berries. New leaf litter is brought into enclosures from forested areas each fortnight containing seasonal insects and berries that help to create variety in the kiwi diet. Logs filled with insect life are also brought in for the kiwi to rip into and explore. Their favourite berries at present are Coprosma robusta berries which are high in caffeine - no wonder they are very active kiwi! We supplement the kiwi's daily diet with an artificial diet fed out to all kiwi in captivity. It is made with minced beef (steak and ox heart), peas and corn, apples, pears and bananas, currants, a specific design of cat biscuits, wheatgerm, insect powder, CaCo3, corn and canola oil and a supplement called the 'Kiwi PreMix'. Our kiwi certainly dine well!

The 5 kiwi species:

• Brown Kiwi (Apteryx mantelli) - These are found in the North island of New Zealand and are isolated into different geographic regions called provenances; Northland, Coromandel, Eastern and Western brown kiwi.

• Great Spotted Kiwi (roroa) (Apteryx haastii) - Found in the high country of the north western side of the South Island

• Little Spotted Kiwi (Apteryx owenii) - Found only on predator free islands like Kapiti Island and in predator free sanctuaries like Zealandia

• Rowi (Apteryx rowi) - Found in the Okarito area on the west coast of the South Island

• Tokoeka (Apteryx australis) - Found on Stewart Island, Fiordland and the west coast of the South Island

Quick facts

• Kiwi are related to Australia’s emus and cassowaries and belong to a group of flightless birds called Ratites.

• All 5 species of kiwi are endangered.     

• Approximately 70,000 kiwi are left in the wild in New Zealand including off shore islands and predator controlled areas.

• Kiwi are flightless, with powerful legs that make up a third of the bird’s weight.

• Kiwi have poor eyesight, but their long probing beak gives them an acute sense of smell & touch.

• Kiwi are the only bird to have nostrils at the end of the beak. They also have sensory pits at the tip of the beak, allowing them to feel the vibrations of prey moving underground.

• Kiwi have a shaggy plumage with hair-like feathers and cat-like whiskers on the face and around the base of the beak. These super-sensitive whiskers have probably evolved to help them feel their way in the dark and sense vibrations of prey.

• Kiwi are generally nocturnal forest dwellers. During the day they sleep in burrows, hollow logs or under thick vegetation. Kiwi can sometimes be seen during the day if food is scarce or in times of drought.

• Kiwi have enormous eggs and one of the largest egg-to-body weight ratios of any bird. The egg weighs about 20% per cent of the female's body weight - that’s about six-times as big as normal for a bird of its size.  (The ostrich egg-to-body weight ratio is 2%). The benefit of such a large egg is that the chick which weighs around 300g on hatching does not require assistance from the adults to feed.

• Females are larger than males with a slightly longer beak

• Adult kiwi often mate for life and are very territorial

• Kiwi males incubate the eggs for 70-85 days

• Chicks are fully feathered when they hatch.  They emerge from the burrow to feed after about 5 days (they are not fed by their parents)

• Juvenile male kiwi can reach sexual maturity at 18 months and females will lay their first eggs from 3-5 years old.

• Kiwi are long-lived depending on the species. Estimates of twenty-five to fifty years have been given, but the actual lifespan of kiwi is still not known. The oldest kiwi at the Otorohanga Kiwi House arrived as adults to found the captive brown kiwi breeding programme in 1986 which makes them over 40 years old.