A Pet's View / March 2006
Wee Kiwi
A North Island brown kiwi hatched at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., in February, only the second of these rare birds to hatch during the zoo’s 116-year history.
Kiwi chicks hatch fully feathered with their eyes open and begin foraging for small worms and berries after their first week of life, with no help from their parents.
The Smithsonian’s kiwi hatched weighing in at 9.7 ounces after sixty four days of incubation. Zoo staff monitored the egg each day, by weighing it and using an external light to illuminate the egg’s interior.
The National Zoo is one of just four zoos in the world to breed kiwis outside of New Zealand and inn 1975 was the first institution outside of New Zealand to hatch a kiwi. That bird, now thirty years old, is still on exhibit at the zoo’s Bird House.
The five known species of kiwis are all flightless, nocturnal, burrowing birds unique to New Zealand. North Island brown kiwis are listed as endangered by the International Union of Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
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