Apteryx

A kiwi

Kiwi are flightless birds recognised as among the national symbols of New Zealand, where they are endemic. The five extant species of kiwi belong to the genus Apteryx of the family Apterygidae in the order Apterygiformes.

Quotes

• ... the Kiwi (Apteryx) ... runs rapidly, but has no power of flight. Its body is covered with a thick coating of almost hair-like feathers. By feeling with the finger amongst these feathers one can detect the presence of a miniature wing hidden amongst them. It is so small as to be absolutely useless, although it is asserted that the kiwi tries its best to tuck its bill under it when it goes to sleep!
  • J. Graham Kerr, Evolution. London: Macmillan & Company. 1926. pp. 58–59. 

• Distinctive features include a long and slightly curved bill with nostrils near the tip, a cone-shaped body (because of reduced pectoral development) that tapers markedly to a strong neck and comparatively small head, powerful muscular legs which make up one third of the total weight, small eyes, large ear apertures and many long tactile bristles about the face and base of the bill. The wings, which end in a claw, are very small (40–50 mm) and there is no external tail.
  The plumage is loose and hair-like and does not change in form throughout life. Its neotenous characteristics of having weak barbs and lacking aftershafts gives kiwis a permanently shaggy appearance. Depending upon condition of the bird and time of year, plumage represents between 4.7 and 6.8 per cent of the body weight.
  • Brian Edward Reid and Gordon Roy Williams in: Kuschel, G., ed (2012). "Chapter VII. The Kiwi by Reid & Williams". Biogeography and Ecology in New Zealand. Volume 27 of Monographiae Biologicae. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 301–330. ISBN 940101941X.  (quote from p. 301; pbk reprint of 1975 1st edition published by Dr. Wilhelm Junk b.v. Publishers, The Hague)

• We describe Apteryx littoralis sp. nov., a new species of kiwi based on a 1-million-year-old tarsometatarsus from shallow marine sediment in the North Island of New Zealand. The fossil is very similar to the tarsometatarsi of living kiwi species, most closely resembling Apteryx rowi and A. mantelli in size and shape, but differs in being stouter, with proportionally narrower proximal and distal ends. The new fossil is the second oldest known record of kiwi. It demonstrates a relatively conservative kiwi morphology since the mid-Pleistocene. Alan James Drummond Tennyson and Barbara Mizumo Tomotani (2022). "A new fossil species of kiwi (Aves: Apterygidae) from the mid-Pleistocene of New Zealand". Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology 34 (2). DOI:10.1080/08912963.2021.1916011.||url=http://zoobank.org/References/cefc907d-0c1d-44dc-83c5-5799f5d6d3d2}}

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Kiwi (bird) on Wikipedia
• The dictionary definition of kiwi on Wiktionary
• (December 25, 2022) "Kiwi | The Cute Flightless Bird". Nature Lens, YouTube.
• (April 24, 2023) "The Kiwi: What do we know about our national bird". Frank - Story from the South, YouTube.