Post-quake kiwi chick survives odds
21 Sep 2010
A rocky start in life - including a 7.1 earthquake - couldn’t keep Orana Wildlife Park’s newest little kiwi down.
But the Christchurch earthquake two weeks ago, which severely shook the incubating egg around on its nest, was just one of several odds that the plucky little bird has survived to make it safely into this world.
The progeny of clumsy young parents deemed not fit to incubate their egg, the kiwi egg had to be cross-fostered by a surrogate kiwi, endured a four-hour power blackout, and an unusual and difficult birth.
Add that to the endangered nature of the entire kiwi species - only five per cent of kiwi hatched in the wild reach adulthood - and this little kiwi is yet another miracle in the fight to save New Zealand’s national symbol.
Shaky ground
As a reminder of its rather momentous arrival, the kiwi chick has been named Rūwhenua meaning ‘shaky ground’ or ‘shaking of the land’.
Rūwhenua is "a lovely dark colour and a very feisty character," Orana’s native fauna head keeper Tara Atkinson said.
It had been a relief to see the kiwi chick emerge safely last Friday (17.09.2010), she said.
"The poor little egg was rocked about inside the incubator during the earthquake but miraculously still hatched. We think this name will serve as a reminder to us of the impact the earthquake and aftershocks have had upon Christchurch and Canterbury residents."
Initially park staff had been worried about the state of the egg following a four-hour power outage directly after the quake, but were reassured by movement in the egg, she said.
Hatching process
Atkinson said the egg had continued to develop nicely until the hatching process began, but it then became obvious that the chick was trying to hatch at an awkward angle.
"The chick had actually put its foot through one end of the egg (instead of kicking out at the middle of the egg) making it more difficult for the bird to break free," Atkinson said.
After consultation with experts at the national kiwi hatchery at Rainbow Springs, Rotorua, Orana staff bandaged the broken area around the chick’s foot so that the bird could leverage against the padding.
"Applying the bandage enabled the chick to progress again. But then we started to smell a wet dog type odour from the egg which meant the chick was obviously sweating and getting tired," Atkinson said.
"The team removed two centimetres of shell to provide more air at which point the chick gained sufficient energy to break free from its shell."
Foster parent
The chick was cross-fostered or incubated by a foster bird because the kiwi parents, Riri and Dearheart, were nervous young birds and had a tendency to break or damage their eggs.
At nine days, the egg was removed from the parents nest and placed under another male kiwi that was sitting on an infertile egg. At 45 days, it was transferred to an electric incubator for the final 38 days of incubation.
Rūwhenua is a brown kiwi. One of five kiwi sub species, the brown kiwi is classified by New Zealand’s conservation department as in ‘serious decline’.
Background: New Zealand kiwi
- Kiwi are fascinating birds and are unique to New Zealand. They are flightless as well as nocturnal and have nostrils at the tip of the beak which helps them sniff out food and probe for insects.
- Kiwi eggs are proportionately one of the largest of any bird and can weigh between one quarter to one sixth of the female’s body weight! The male incubates the eggs for 72-85 days.
- Kiwi can live for over 30 years and in the wild pairs may mate for life.
- Like most of New Zealand’s native fauna, kiwi are under constant threat, especially from introduced mammals including stoats, weasels, ferrets, cats and dogs, as well as from habitat loss. While adult kiwi are capable of defending themselves from everything except dogs, kiwi eggs and chicks are particularly vulnerable. Captive breeding programmes are vital if New Zealand’s national symbol is to survive.
- Kiwi are related to the African ostrich and the Australian emu.
- There are six kiwi sub-species, all of which are threatened to varying degrees: North Island brown, Okarito brown kiwi / rowi, Haast tokoeka, Southern tokoeka, great spotted, little spotted.2. About Brown Teal
Background: Orana Wildlife Park, Christchurch
Set on 80 hectares of park-like grounds, Orana Wildlife Park - near Christchurch - is New Zealand's only open range zoo. It offers a range of exciting animal encounters on a daily basis.
The park is an open range sanctuary for endangered animals. Over 400 animals from 70 different species live in enclosures that are as close as possible to their natural habitat.
Conservation is one of the park's core missions, and the name Orana is the Maori word for welcome or place of refuge. Orana Wildlife Park is internationally recognised for its involvement in captive breeding programmes for endangered exotic animals, as well as New Zealand's own rare fauna.
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