1. A kiwi is a flightless bird native to New Zealand.
2. The kiwi is a New Zealand icon.
3. Kiwis are shy and nocturnal birds. I have never seen a kiwi in the wild.
4. New Zealanders are affectionately known as kiwis. I am a kiwi. I am shy but I buck the trend cause I’m more of a morning person!
5. A kiwi is around the size of a chicken and is an endangered species. The Auckland zoo runs a captive breeding program where the birds are released back into the wild.
6. The Bank of New Zealand raises money to help with kiwi conservation and awareness.
7. Kiwis are creatures with a highly developed sense of smell, most unusual in a bird, and are the only birds with nostrils at the end of their long bill. Kiwi eat small invertebrates, seeds, grubs, and many varieties of worms. They also may eat fruit, small crayfish, eels and amphibians. Unlike other birds, the kiwi can locate insects and worms underground without actually seeing or feeling them. This is due to their long beaks, with nostrils at the end of them. As the length of a birds beak is measured from the tip of the beak to the nostril, the Kiwi has the shortest beak of any bird.
8. After an initial meeting during mating season (March to June), kiwi usually live as monogamous couples. The pair will meet in the nesting burrow every few days and call to each other at night. These relationships have been known to last for up to 20 years.
9. Kiwi eggs can weigh up to one quarter the weight of the female. Usually only one egg is laid. Although the kiwi is about the size of a domestic chicken, it is able to lay eggs that are up to ten times larger than a chicken’s egg.
10. New Zealand troops awaiting repatriation after World War 1 carved a huge kiwi shape into the chalk ground at Bulford on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. It’s still visible and is currently maintained by the Ministry of Defence.
11. You can send a kiwi e-card to your friends. See here
12.
Here’s a cool animated cartoon about a kiwi, which was done as a thesis. Remember – kiwis are usually flightless.
13. Last week on our favorite local TV show, Outrageous Fortune, one of the characters died. The actress is going to Australia to act in an Australian soap. But when she died, right at the end of the show, they played the Goodnight Kiwi song. It was heart wrenching for all the viewers.
Before 24 hour TV came to New Zealalnd the Goodnight Kiwi cartoon signalled the end of nightly broadcasts. The last airing of this animation was in 1994. Today the characters are regarded as icons of New Zealand culture. Note from Shell – I’m not showing my age – really I’m not!
Here’s the Goodnight Kiwi cartoon that many New Zealanders remember with great fondess. If you slept through this you were likely to wake up to lots of white screen and a horrid hissing sound from the TV.
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August 9th, 2007 at 12:21 am · Link
When we were, “across the pond” last year, we didn’t get to see one of these…
Never mind, we are going back again in November…
Our list is up as well, so cross the Tasman, and check us out!!
August 9th, 2007 at 12:35 am · Link
Neat post, Shelley!
August 9th, 2007 at 12:47 am · Link
Awh. Kiwi’s are cute!
Someday I want to visit NZ and Australia to see your native animals.
P.S. Can you ship me a koala?
August 9th, 2007 at 12:47 am · Link
Cripes! Kiwi eggs can weigh up to one quarter the weight of the female. That would be like me giving birth to a 50 lb. baby! No wonder they only lay one egg — I’d go on strike after that first one, too!
August 9th, 2007 at 2:25 am · Link
Thanks for the loads of info about kiwis! I am new to your blog and would read more after this comment.
August 9th, 2007 at 4:14 am · Link
They’re really cute. Interesting TT. I’d never heard of those birds before. :)
August 9th, 2007 at 4:36 am · Link
VERY neat stuff. I’m now a kiwi fan (and glad they’re not green, too. I think the fruit sticks in my head and I always expect the bird to be green. Time to get over that!).
August 9th, 2007 at 4:48 am · Link
OMG! That’s a kiwi? I’ve heard of them but never seen a pic before. How cute! I want one! hehehe!
August 9th, 2007 at 4:52 am · Link
OMG The animated Kiwi was so cute! Visiting NZ is on my list of things to do before I die. Great list Shelley!
August 9th, 2007 at 4:54 am · Link
you know – Kiwis prove that the Creative Powers the Be have a sense of humor. Damn adorable!
August 9th, 2007 at 4:55 am · Link
OMG! When I visited friends in San Diego, one of them kept insisting we had to go to the zoo to see the kiwis. He harped on them forever until I finally went with him…into this dark room where all I saw was shadows of teeny birds hopping around. Thanks for the memory!
August 9th, 2007 at 5:00 am · Link
Kiwi’s are cute. I remember going to New Zealand and hearing about them.
August 9th, 2007 at 5:34 am · Link
awwwwwwwwwwwww I love Kiwis!! The one where he jumps to his death is more than a little disturbing though!! I kept thinking we were going to see him alive!
August 9th, 2007 at 5:40 am · Link
I loved reading all this. Great T13!
August 9th, 2007 at 5:58 am · Link
Wow, thanks. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture of a kiwi before.
August 9th, 2007 at 6:13 am · Link
What a cool list. I was expecting things about fruit, but what a cute little bird!
August 9th, 2007 at 6:27 am · Link
Number seven cracks me up.
The kiwi movie was bittersweet.
The goodnight kiwi? Cute, but I know you have to live there to get the full impact.
Happy TTing!
August 9th, 2007 at 6:31 am · Link
Wonderful! And such great pictures.
Love it!
August 9th, 2007 at 6:42 am · Link
How very sentimental! Those kiwis sure are cute little guys!
August 9th, 2007 at 6:44 am · Link
So cute! I wish NZ weren’t so far away, and so expensive to visit – I’d love to see these in person someday.
August 9th, 2007 at 6:48 am · Link
They’re fascinating little birds!
August 9th, 2007 at 7:30 am · Link
Very cool about Kiwi. My grandfather (highly misinformed) used to tell me that kiwis stuck their heads in the ground and talked out their bums. NOT New Zealanders, he was talking about the animal and to an 8 year old naive child like me I thought it was hilarious.
Great TT!!
August 9th, 2007 at 7:53 am · Link
What a fascinating list, Shelley! And what interesting and amazing little creatures kiwis are. Thanks for a a great read!
August 9th, 2007 at 7:56 am · Link
Cool beans! I actually knew the one about them having the shortest beak. What a stupid way of measuring them though!
Kiwis are adorable. That’s it, I shall have to come to NZ to see one {g}
August 9th, 2007 at 7:57 am · Link
Holy crap, that was a LOT of awesome info…thanks for sharing!!!
August 9th, 2007 at 8:09 am · Link
Aren’t they adorable? I thought Kiwi was a fruit.
August 9th, 2007 at 8:12 am · Link
What a cool list! They’re soooo cute!
*hugs*
Paige
My TT is at http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com/
August 9th, 2007 at 8:26 am · Link
Very cool list, NZ is definitely on my list of places to go. Great pictures.
August 9th, 2007 at 9:00 am · Link
And I thought my kids were cool for having a stuffed echidna.
August 9th, 2007 at 9:15 am · Link
Finally I know what a non-fruit kiwi looks like. Great TT Shelley
August 9th, 2007 at 10:02 am · Link
They are kinda cute, but it would suck to be a bird and not be able to fly. LOL!
Happy TT!
August 9th, 2007 at 10:15 am · Link
Awwww, the kiwi is so cute, and I loved learning about them — such fascinating facts! And New Zealand sounds like such a wonderful place; I’d love to visit someday.
Happy TT and thanks for visiting mine!
August 9th, 2007 at 10:15 am · Link
Awwwe. What an adorable little critter! I know know 13 things about kiwis I didnt know before! Thanks Shelley! Happy TT!
August 9th, 2007 at 11:19 am · Link
MM, kiwi…
Wait, wrong kiwi!
This is a great list–and kiwi females are my new heroines. Sheesh!
August 9th, 2007 at 12:16 pm · Link
Good Lord they are adorable.
August 9th, 2007 at 1:28 pm · Link
Aww they are so cute!
August 9th, 2007 at 1:41 pm · Link
I love the photo of the baby kiwi at the top. It is really cute.
In NZ we always refer to the fruit as kiwifruit. We never call it a kiwi.
Lanie – no koalas in NZ – you’ll need to go to Aus to find one of them. They are cute, though.
August 9th, 2007 at 6:21 pm · Link
awww I love the kiwis!
January 12th, 2008 at 7:42 pm · Link
I love this post!