It looks like a hedgehog. It lives in burrows on the ground. It feeds like a hedgehog and has a hedgehog’s sense of smell – but it is a bird! In New Zealand, where there are no hedgehogs, the flightless hen-sized kiwi fills the ecological gap normally occupied by small spiny mammals.It searches for food at night and uses it’s long sensitive bill to stab the ground in search of worms, slugs and other juicy morsels.

Most birds that probe the soil use touch or sight to locate their food, but the kiwi relies on its sense of smell. It has nostrils at the tip of its bill and smell receptors at the base in the breathing chamber, The smell-sensitive membrane is convoluted, like that of a dog, to increase its surface area.

Generally the size of the bird determines the size of the egg. The egg of an ostrich can be 3lb in weight. However, this only represent 1% of the female’s body weight. The world’s largest eggs in relation to body weight are laid by the kiwis. Each cream-coloured egg can weigh as much as a staggering 25% of the hen’s weight. Kiwi pairs mate for life – as long as 30 years. The eggs are incubated for a very long 80 days (Only albatross is the same ) by by the male while the mom hunts.

Kiwis are also unique in that they have no tail, and stubby, two inch wings that are usually covered by their coarse, bristly, hair-like feathers. These wings are pretty much useless. The kiwi is a very unbird-like bird. Its skin is tough as shoe-leather, its feathers are like hair, its bones are heavy, its wings end in a cat-like claw and its body temperature is 38° Celcius, lower than most other birds.

Categories: Animals