We take a detour inland for this latest review. Content warning:
‘This one gets kinda bleak near the end, recent David Attenborough show vibes but hopefully it’s fine.’
You already know who it is, the legend, the icon, the weird furry flightless bird that we all love. If you’ve been in Aotearoa, you’ve seen at least images of these guys EVERYWHERE. We were even contemplating getting one with laser eyes on our flag (RIP Laser Kiwi, you’re the flag of my heart). They’re so iconic that we even call ourselves kiwis. Which gets confusing when it comes to foreigners discussing what to add to their smoothies, as hearing “just throw a couple more kiwis in the blender” across the room is always a tad disturbing.
My favourite thing about kiwis, is how they managed to rise to such fame purely by being some of the most bizarre looking birds alive today. They can’t fly, so already they’ve scoffed at bird social norms. Their feathers are also eerily reminiscent of fur, making them look like little hairballs with 3 sticks pointing out. These “sticks” being their two strong legs, and their ludicrously long beak. This is already interesting enough, but just wait – kiwis have also evolved sensory pits at the end which allows them to sense prey moving underground. Using their beak they can sniff out any tasty insect in the area, and have sometimes been observed really throwing themselves into it. Literally, they have been spotted (pun intended) with frantically kicking feet as they plunge beak-first into the ground, munching on hiding invertebrates in the leaf litter.
So you already know what they look like, kinda similar to a chicken with a fur coat on and no rhinoplasty. There are five known species of kiwi; Brown, Great spotted, Little spotted, Rowi, and Tokoeka. It’s gonna be a bit bleak, but I’d like to focus on the Little Spotted kiwi. This species is the smallest, with females maxing out at 1.95kg and the males reaching only 1.36kg at most. This seemingly unimportant trait would ultimately spell the doom of these birds, as unfortunately being small is a whole different ball-game when predators are introduced. Before humans introduced Stoats, ferrets, rats, mice, weasels, cats, dogs etc – Aotearoa’s only mammalian species were marine or they were bats the size of your thumb. This meant Kiwis had no land-based mammal predators – which meant evolving without the tools necessary to prevent ecological collapse if they did end up being introduced. Which they did, and it was devastating. The smallest kiwis used to also be the most common, however this quickly changed as they couldn’t defend against nest-raiders or hungry rodents. Ultimately, the Little spotted kiwi – once the most abundant – is now the only species to have become extinct on the mainland.
If I haven’t already spelled it out;
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Put bells on your cats collars
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Don’t let your dogs roam lead free in native bush
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Before heading out on a native bushwalk, make sure to check your bags and gear for any stowaways
Little spotted kiwi looking very fluffy – might need to switch shampoo brands
100/10 – To be fair, any less would be unpatriotic