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.

Te Puia | NZMACI is committed to the sustainability of our taonga (treasures). We are bound by promises to our (tūpuna) ancestors to preserve our unique geothermal environment, language and culture.

We are part of a national programme to protect and breed native kiwi birds. We also breed native skinks. We also protect a large colony of kawau (shags) on the Puarenga Stream. This stream was once badly polluted, and we are engaging with the community to reduce the run-off of agricultural chemicals. Our geothermal area was once in a bad state because of city-wide extraction of heat and fluid. However, we have been part of the world’s most significant urban recovery of a damaged geothermal field. The ecosystem around this field is delicate, and we are contributing to biodiversity and pest management programmes.

All new buildings at Te Puia | NZMACI are designed for solar power or conversion to geothermal heat exchangers. We are also considering a mini-hydropower system and are seeking to be more than 60% energy self-sufficient by 2022. We actively recycle and encourage manuhiri (guests) to participate in recycling, and endeavour to use environmentally friendly cleaning chemicals.