Fiordland tokoeka

The Fiordland tokoeka or Fiordland kiwi (Apteryx australis australis) is a subspecies of southern brown kiwi. It lives in South Island, New Zealand.  This bird does not fly.  It runs on the ground.

Appearance

This is a large southern brown kiwi.  It has red-brown feathers that look like fur.  It has small wings and does not fly.  It has no tail.  It has a long, curved bill, or beak. The nostrils are at the end of the bill, not at the top near the rest of its face.

Habitat and food
The Fiordland tokoeka lives in Fiordland and nearby islands.  It lives from the Milford Sound to Lake Te Anau to Preservation Inlet.

The adult Fiordland tokoeka lives alone. It fights other adult kiwis over good places to look for food.  It mostly hides during the day and looks for food at night.

Threats
There are about 15,000 Fiordland tokoeka alive.  The number of Fiordland kiwis is getting smaller because human beings build farms and other things in the places the kiwi like to live and because animals brought over the ocean by humans like to eat them and their eggs: dogs, stoats, ferrets and cats.  However, human beings set traps for stoats in parts of Fiordland, and now there are more kiwis in those places.

Breeding

The kiwis make a nest in a hollow log, crack in a rock, or space dug out of the ground.  The egg is large and pale green in color.  Both the male and female kiwi take turns sitting on the egg.

References

Category:Kiwis