The Tiny Kiwi Bird Is Related to Massive Emus and Ostriches

It's not uncommon to see kiwi "caution" signs when driving around certain parts of New Zealand. Photo by Stas Kulesh / Getty Images

The kiwi bird: a small, flightless bird with some seriously strange features! Native to New Zealand, this bird in the world is unlike any other, with hair-like kiwi feathers, nostrils at the tip of its beak and a highly developed sense of smell.

In fact, this odd little avian might be one of the most distinctive and well-known features of the New Zealand islands. Like the native kiwi fruit (after which it was named), it is small but exceptional and internationally recognized.

Kiwis Can't Fly

The kiwi is the smallest ratite, a polyphyletic group of flightless birds that includes ostriches and emus. Modern technology, including DNA sequencing, has established that they are most closely related to the now-extinct elephant birds of Madagascar [source: Mitchell et. al.].

Kiwi birds come in a few species (more on that below) but are all around the same size and shape. Female great spotted kiwis, the biggest species, have a height of about 18 inches (45 cm) and weigh about 7.3 lbs (3.3 kg). The smaller males weigh about 5.3 lbs (2.4 kg).

4 Surprising Kiwi Facts

bird, egg — Female kiwis lay eggs that are massive in relation to their petite bodies. Mark Jones / Getty Images

Unlike most species of the bird world, the kiwi is nocturnal, meaning it’s active at night and sleeps during the day.
The kiwi bird is the only bird with nostrils at the end of its long beak, allowing it to sniff out food like worms, insects and berries hidden in soil and leaf litter.
Unlike other birds, kiwis have hair-like feathers that help them blend into their environment. Their small wings are nearly useless, making them completely flightless.
Despite their small body size, kiwis lay huge eggs — up to 20 percent of the female kiwi’s body weight! That’s about the size of a chicken’s egg, but inside is a bird much smaller than a chicken. This single egg is one of the largest (in proportion to body weight) of any bird species.

Kiwi Species and Where They Live

There are several kiwi species, including the brown kiwi, great spotted kiwi and the spotted kiwi. The North Island brown kiwi is the most common, while the great spotted kiwi is mainly found in the South Island and the west coast.

Some kiwis also live on Stewart Island and offshore islands, where conservationists have created predator-free environments to protect them in the wild.

Kiwi birds prefer habitats with plenty of soil and leaf litter, using their strong legs to dig burrows under hollow logs or in dense vegetation. Since they are nocturnal birds, they rely on their very good sense of smell to locate food at night.

The Life Cycle of a Kiwi Bird

The female lays one egg — sometimes two — inside a burrow, and the male takes over incubation duties. Kiwi eggs take about 75 to 85 days to hatch, much longer than most bird eggs.

When the young kiwi hatches, it uses an egg tooth to break through the shell, emerging as a tiny but fully feathered chick.

Unlike many other birds, kiwi chicks are independent soon after hatching. Adult kiwis do not feed their young, so kiwi chicks must find food on their own. This makes them vulnerable to predators, and in areas with introduced predators, survival rates are low.

Are Kiwis Endangered?

Kiwi populations have declined historically due to habitat destruction, especially through deforestation. However, now that New Zealand has significantly slowed this process, the biggest threat to these neat little birds is introduced predators like cats, dogs and ferrets, making conservation efforts essential.

Conservation Efforts to Save the Kiwi

As Zealand’s national bird, the kiwi has protected status, with professionals working to ensure kiwi chicks survive and that adults can thrive in predator-free islands and reserves.

Organizations like the Department of Conservation, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, and local New Zealand groups (such as Save the Kiwi) work to protect these birds by relocating them to predator-free islands and reserves.

Many kiwi are now raised in protected areas until they are large enough to defend themselves. By removing threats from their environment and increasing awareness, New Zealanders are working hard to ensure this iconic species doesn’t go extinct [source: NZ Department of Conservation].

We created this article in conjunction with AI technology, then made sure it was fact-checked and edited by a HowStuffWorks editor.