KiwiNewZ

Great Spotted Kiwi

The great spotted kiwi is the largest of all the kiwi species. It’s found only in the South Island, predominantly in North West Nelson, Central Westland and Eastern Canterbury, where it lives mainly in high, often harsh, hill country. The females lay just one egg a year, possibly due to the cold conditions it lives it, as it may need to conserve its energy to stay warm. Males and females share the incubation of the egg, and, unlike other kiwi species, the chick appears to stay in its parents’ burrow for up to a year after hatching. No population census has been conducted on this species, but it’s thought their numbers are probably in the thousands.