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Hope for the kiwi bird emerges

Words by Abi Scaife

For the first time in over a century, this bird has laid an egg in the wild.

Incredible! Keep going!

The kiwi (not the fruit) is a bird native to New Zealand - and only New Zealand. There are five different species of the kiwi bird, four of which are listed as ‘vulnerable’, while the fifth is ‘near threatened’.

That sounds pretty bad.

It is - but 11 North Island brown kiwis were released at Mākara in Wellington in 2022 as part of an attempt to help boost their population. This has resulted in incredible news - the first kiwi egg to be laid in the wild in over a century!

A century?!

That’s right - the last kiwi egg known to be laid in the wild was in the Tararua Range in the mid-1870s. That’s around 150 years!

While the minds behind this venture know more than anyone not to count your kiwis before they hatch, this is still a brilliant sign for the birds in the future.

This article aligns with the UN SDG Life on Land.

This article aligns with the following UN SDGs

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