Kiwi: The National Animal of New Zealand

The national animal of New Zealand is Kiwi. Kiwis are actually the smallest of all non-flying birds across the globe, which includes ostriches, emu etc. Kiwis in the whole world are just found in New Zealand. Kiwis love to live in different types of habitats like the scrubland, farmland, swamps, pine forest and vegetated gullies. There are 5 known species of Kiwis discovered.

source: nzbirdsonline.org.nz

Kiwi Facts:

1. As per statistics, an average of 27 kiwis is hunted by predators every week while the total population of kiwi now in the world is 1400. That’s a 2% decline in their population every year.
2. Kiwis are smallest nonflying bird they are of similar size as a chicken.
3. Just like humans a kiwi pair can mate for whole life and can stay together till death.
4. Kiwis are nocturnal birds just like bats.
5. The age span for kiwi is quite long as compared to other birds. They can live 40 years in wild and astonishingly 30-35 years in captivity which is quite opposite of other animals where they live better and more in captivity.
6. As per biologists Kiwi is the bird that does not have faced evolution. Kiwis for the first time appeared 8 million years ago on earth and have not evolved or changed since then.
7. The body temperature of kiwi is 100.4 ºF which is 2 degree less than the other birds of its family.
   Unlike many other birds kiwis live in under ground burrows, they dig it with the help of their beak and strong legs.
8. As kiwi has poor eye sight, it rely totally on its smell power.
9. As per biologists only a 35% chick survival is needed to keep the kiwi’s population back to millions like it was a century ago.

Why is Kiwi the national animal of New Zealand ?

As per IUCN Kiwis are endangered species. So for the sake of its conservation, it is chosen as the national animal of New Zealand. Moreover, it is only found in New Zealand.

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