Apteryx haastii

The great spotted Kiwi is 45-56 cm long and weighs 2.5 kg for males and 4.0 kg for females. It is the most primitive of the snipe birds. It has a small head, a body shaped like a pear, covered with fluffy fine feathers, feathers are soft and featherless. The vestigial wings are covered with feathers, have no tail feathers, and cannot fly. The legs are short and strong, good at running, and can reach 16 kilometers per hour. The kiwi's beak is pointed and slender, about 10 cm long, with cat-like whiskers at the base of the beak; The nostrils are at the tip of the long, curved mouth, not at the base of the mouth; Small eyes, poor day vision; The ear holes are large and developed, with long whiskers (possibly tactile) at the base of the mouth. The neck is short, the ears are highly sensitive and developed, and the feathers are mottled from charcoal ash to light brown. The sexes are dimorphic, with the female being much larger (difference of more than 1 kg). The biggest difference from

The Great Spotted Kiwi is found in New Zealand, but is found only in the South Island, including Little Barrier Island.
The great spotted Kiwi lives in burrows, and the nest is not ready for use until several weeks after it has been dug. This gives time for moss and natural vegetation to re-emerge, facilitating camouflage.

Apteryx haastii, Great Sportted Kiwi, no subspecies.

A pair of large spotted kiwis may carve out up to 100 shelters in their territory, often changing shelter every day. They do not leave their burrows during the day, except in dangerous situations. They usually come out at night. Foraging takes place about 30 minutes after sunset. It is dominated by insects, snails, spiders, worms, shrimp, and can even eat small lizards and mice, as well as fruit and berries that fall on the ground. The nostrils of the kiwi bird are not at the base of the beak like the thrush or the swallow, but at the tip of the mouth. Its sense of smell is very good, and it can smell the worm more than ten centimeters underground, and then dig it up with its claws or mouth. In addition, its mouth has an unexpected function - when it needs to rest, the mouth can be used as a third leg, like a tripod to support the body, easy and stable.

The Great spotted kiwi is a strictly monogamous bird. Couples live together for at least 2 or 3 breeding seasons. The breeding period is in late autumn and the gestation period is up to a month, during which the female must store enough fat to produce a well-nourished egg. Unable to fly, kiwis tend to nest in holes in trees at the base of their trunks, sometimes just on the ground. The reproductive ability of kiwi birds is not strong, and the female birds generally have to lay eggs once a year, 1-2 each time. Although the kiwi is not large, its eggs are very large, weighing five times more than the average egg (400-450 grams), equivalent to a quarter of the female bird's own body weight, or even one-third. The eggs are white or light green, incubating for 70 to 74 days, the incubation process is entirely responsible for the male bird, one week after birth, it continues to consume the remaining yolk in the body to provide nutrition, and then begins to follow the male bird to learn foraging and various survival techniques. The chicks take a long time (about 4 years) to mature.

Listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) 2012 Red List of Threatened Species ver3.1 - Vulnerable (VU).

It belongs to Appendix II: Class I protected animals of the Washington Convention.

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