Queenstown Kiwi Chick Beats Odds to Fly the Nest for Wild Release

Tuku, a kiwi chick hatched at Queenstown’s Kiwi Birdlife Park on December 2011, has beaten the odds and grown into a strong and healthy kiwi chick that will be released into the Maungataniwha Sanctuary in northern Hawkes Bay this weekend. She was given a farewell ceremony in Queenstown this morning (Thursday) including a Maori blessing ahead of her flight to Napier.

“She was a difficult egg to incubate and she required a full-assist hatch, whereby we needed to get her out of her shell at the last minute as she had her foot caught over her head and couldn’t hatch naturally. Without this intervention, she would have died of exhaustion and suffocation within the egg” says Wildlife Manager Nicole Kunzmann.

Tuku was a small kiwi at her hatch, weighing only 290g and has since grown into a strong and healthy bird that weighs 1kg. “The Queenstown community have been really supportive of the Park and our kiwi programme, in particular, with Tuku.” Her parents became known as a ‘teenage parents’ given that the male, Tamanui, simply would not incubate his mate, Tawahi’s, eggs, instead preferring to use the egg as a pillow or footrest! Tuku’s egg was fostered to the other male kiwi at the Park, Nyoni, with Park staff transferring the egg to an artificial incubator for the remainder of the incubation period. Kiwi eggs take between 75 and 80 days to hatch.

“We are all thrilled for Tuku to be released into the wild and to help boost wild kiwi population numbers. At the Park we are all so passionate about helping to save NZ’s endangered wildlife and educating our visitors about kiwi and our other animals, so it is really special to be directly contributing to kiwi conservation”

Tuku also holds a special significance to the Wilson family, who established the Park 26 years ago. Tuku was named “Taonga Tuku Iho” which means “Legacy from the Past” and she was named in honour of Park founder, Dick Wilson, who has since passed away. Tuku was hatched around the time of the second anniversary of Dick’s passing and staff thought it would be a fitting tribute to someone so passionate about saving kiwi.

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.
• Only 5% of kiwi chicks will reach 6 months of age in the wild. Only 50% of eggs in the wild will hatch successfully.
• 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 five kiwi species, all of which are threatened to varying degrees: North Island brown, Okarito brown kiwi / rowi, Southern tokoeka, great spotted, little spotted.

Background: Kiwi Birdlife Park, Queenstown

The Kiwi Birdlife Park is a 5 acre wildlife sanctuary in the heart of Queenstown. Established 26 years ago by the Wilson family that converted the former refuge site, the Park now houses more than 20 species of threatened native wildlife. Most of these are part of nationally managed programmes, several of which are breed-for-release.

The Park also has a rehabilitation unit on site and cares for sick, injured and orphaned wildlife that is brought to the Park by members of public, with the aim to release back into the wild once fit and healthy.

Conservation and education is one of the Park's core missions, and we have been working with NZ’s rare and threatened wildlife and sharing our experiences with our visitors for over 25 years.

www.kiwibird.co.nz

ENDS

© Scoop Media