Encountering Kiwis
12th November 2009 It’s very difficult to spot a Kiwi (New Zealand’s national bird) in the wild. Not only are they nocturnal and shy with a wicked sense of hearing and smell, but they are also severely endangered. The population is currently declining so rapidly it is halving in size every ten years and the Kiwi could be close to extinction by 2015. This flightless bird survived millions of years and developed defenses against other birds that preyed on them. However, these defenses were useless against man, who in the past hunted Kiwis, and the preditors he introduced such as stoats, rats, cats, dogs and possums which tarket kiwi and their eggs while wild pigs dig up their burrows. ...