Bird Keepers give Kiwi Chick Āwhina a helping hand

As the kiwi hatchling tried to break its way free from its egg, our birds team watched anxiously as the chick seemed to struggle with the immense task, and was taking longer than expected. After some time the decision was made to manually assist the hatching process, piercing the outer shell and breaking a few pieces of the shell off so the chick could make its way out.

Unlike most other hatchlings, kiwis do not have an egg tooth on their beak to help them break free from their eggs, instead they push their way out of their shells using their very strong legs. This chick, fittingly named Āwhina, which is Maori for ‘to assist or help’, hatched with a swollen and slightly injured leg. It is possible that this was the reason it couldn’t force its way out of its shell. With some medicine and under the watchful gaze of our vet team and keepers, Āwhina came right in its own time, and is now a healthy young female.

Āwhina is one of the first offspring from our young kiwi breeding pair at Auckland Zoo. Morehu and Maia are part of a New Zealand wide breeding programme where they provide a genetically valuable insurance and advocacy population for the endangered brown kiwi.

Auckland Zoo is part of ‘Operation Nest Egg’ (O.N.E), a national programme that is helping increase our kiwi population. O.N.E. involves our team collecting eggs from the wild, incubating them and caring for them from hatch until they are at an age where they can be released to a predator free island such as Rotoroa. These ‘crèche’ islands allow the chicks to grow big and strong while not under threat from predators, and then finally, when they reach a certain size, they are released back to where they were originally found in the wild. Sadly, only 5% of chicks that hatch in the wild will reach breeding age due to introduced mammalian predators, which has contributed to the decline of our national bird. Auckland Zoo, working together with the Department of Conservation Kiwi’s for Kiwi and Thames Kiwi Coast Care, has successfully contributed to the survival of Northland and Coromandel kiwi.

Kiwis are special birds to New Zealanders! If you want to help us save our national bird that us ‘Kiwis’ are all known for, you can donate to Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund. Keep an eye out for upcoming kiwi releases on Rotoroa Island, so you can come and share this special moment with us!