Kiwi

There are five species of kiwi: brown kiwi, tokoeka, rowi, great spotted kiwi and little spotted kiwi. The kiwi at Te Puia are brown kiwi. The kiwi has large strong legs, sharp claws and a long beak. It’s feathers are shaggy. The kiwi’s egg is huge, and females lay only one at a time. Years ago there were about 12 million kiwi, but today there are fewer than 100,000 and this national icon is endangered.

Māori have always regarded the kiwi as a special bird. They believed it to the ‘hidden bird’ of Tānemahuta – the god of the forest. Kiwi feathers were woven into beautiful cloaks, which were worn only by chiefs. The name ‘kiwi’ is believed to have been inspired by the ‘kivi’, a tropical bird with a long beak found in Polynesia that resembles the kiwi. Māori used to eat kiwi, steaming them in a hāngi (earth oven).

The kiwi (‘kee-wee’) bird is an important cultural icon to all New Zealanders, who call themselves ‘Kiwis’. In the late 1800s, the kiwi started being used as a trademark, and featured on one of the first pictorial stamps issued. During the early 1900s, New Zealand was depicted in sporting and other cartoons as a kiwi. During the First World War, New Zealand soldiers started being referred to as Kiwis. The term has remained popular until today.