New Zealand Fights To Protect Their Kiwi Birds

Kiwi birds are listed as endangered and need to be preserved. Kiwi bird is a national beloved bird species of New Zealands and a symbol of their country, so New Zealand tries to protect this bird by many measures.

Kiwi Bird – The National Animal Of New Zealand

As far as national bird of New Zealand, the kiwi makes up for its lack of attractiveness with curiosity value. The squat, flightless bird has a long, quill-like beak, furry plumage, and a gloomy expression that makes it look like a hybrid of an anteater and a hamster. But don’t be fooled by its ungainliness and appearance. The bald eagle is to Americans what this bird is to New Zealanders.

Numerous product logos and coins both feature it. It appears in the local Maori creation myth and gives the fruit, a New Zealand export, its name. It can also refer to a New Zealander or the national currency, as in the phrase “I’m a kiwi, friend, and proud of it.”

Kiwi Birds And More Native Animal Are Endangered In New Zealnad

The creatures themselves are the only kiwis that are in low supply. They are a threatened species that are currently being restored to healthy populations thanks to creative conservation efforts not far from Wellington, the nation’s bustling metropolis.

Conservation manager at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary Raewyn Empson stated, “When we talk about the kiwi – that’s our identity.” It’s actually a little frightening when you start talking about kiwis going extinct in our lifetimes.

The kiwi bird and other species on these South Pacific islands are victims of their own innocence, the twists and turns of evolution, and human habitation. Because New Zealand is so distant and rugged, many of its species have few predators and never had to build robust defenses. Then, 750 years ago, a man started to migrate, starting with the Polynesians and their canoe-borne rats. Europeans arrived much later and brought with them cats, dogs, stoats, ferrets, possums, rabbits, and weasels.

The islands were a haven for predators, and the newcomers ran riot, eating or stealing from the natural fauna. Today, New Zealand has one of the highest rates of biodiversity loss in the world. According to government studies, at least 51 species of native birds like kiwi birds, as well as frogs, lizards, fish, and plants, are thought to have disappeared. Among them was the enormous moa, which was hunted to extinction by the Polynesians for sustenance.

Due to its reliance on moa, Haste’s eagles went extinct about the year 1400. The largest bird in the world, the eagle, could weigh more than 30 pounds. Only smaller, less populated islands where the kiwi could still be found could be observed on New Zealand’s mainland. However, groups and people have sprung into action to save the environment since nature-loving New Zealand takes pleasure in being greener than others.

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New Zealand’s Conservation Efforts

In recent years, more than two dozen privately run sanctuaries have popped up. To capture, eliminate, or drive away non-native predators, thousands of volunteers have stepped up.

According to Bruce Burns, a scientist who assists in managing a loose network known as Sanctuaries in New Zealand, “It has been a major transformation in the way conservation is done in that country.” “Communities are assuming control of the situation,”

Animals in danger have been relocated by the authorities to tiny islands where predators may be more easily poisoned.

In contrast, Karori is attempting to return survivors to the mainland. The nonprofit trust is working to return a square mile (2.6 square kilometers) of the river valley to its pre-human state with the help of donations from people, corporations, colleges, and local governments.

According to Don Newman, the manager of threatened-species science for the government Conservation Department, “some fairly bizarre and unusual and primitive animals” once roamed the lush forests of New Zealand before humans arrived.

However, Empson seems unfazed by the damage that needs to be repaired in the Karori sanctuary. “We have a 500-year vision”, she asserts. “We’re pessimists”. Karori, which is surrounded by a 7-foot-tall fence that cannot be scaled or dug under, is regarded as a model among private sanctuaries for its potential for both scientific research and tourism.

Hope New Zealand’s conservation efforts will protect kiwi bird – their national bird – and many native species around their country.