It has loose, hair-like feathers and long whiskers. It eats mostly earthworms, spiders, forest invertebrates and fallen fruits but has been known to eat freshwater crayfish, frogs and eels. Now the kiwi is fighting for survival in its traditional habitat, the result of a multitude of causes, from humans destroying forests and clearing land for farming, to introduced predators such as possums, stoats, ferrets, feral cats, pigs and dogs. The greatest threat is to young kiwi which leave the nest at three weeks weighing only 200g. Small and slow, they are easy prey and few survive from birth to 12 months.
Adults can stand up to some predators.
Helping the kiwi The Department of Conservation, in partnership with the Bank of New Zealand and the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, launched the Kiwi Recovery Programme in 1991. The programme is to ensure that kiwi are safeguarded from possible extinction on mainland New Zealand. Recovery plan in action New populations of the endangered Little Spotted Kiwi have been established by transferring birds to three predator-free islands. Experimental control of predators is being carried out at several mainland sites in an effort to increase kiwi productivity. Kiwi eggs are being artificially incubated and chicks reared for possible release back into the wild at an age at which they can withstand predators.