Kiwi – the bird having unusual appearance and habits, strange for birds. The famous zoologist William Kalder called these birds "honourable mammals". If to you has the luck to see this strange creation, most likely you for a long time remember this meeting.
The bird of a kiwi a shape of the trunk reminds house chicken without tail. It has strong legs with four fingers, a long beak with the nostrils located on its tip. At all other birds of a nostril are at the beak basis. Near a beak at a kiwi vibrissa are located that in something makes related birds of this view with the cat family.
Interestingly as well the fact that wings at a birdie are very poorly developed and she cannot fly. Why in general then kiwi wings? It appears, they are necessary to them for a comfortable dream. Birds thrust the long beak under the aegis and in such situation sleep. If you want to take a kiwi plumelet for memory, you will be waited by disappointment. The fact is that what covered a body of a birdie, it is easier to call wool, than plumelets. Their color at different subspecies fluctuates from gray to light-brown. Singularity of birds of a kiwi is shown not only in their exotic appearance, but also in habits. Bones of birds they are filled with brain cages, not hollow, as at other birds. Possibly, in this regard at a kiwi manifestations of intelligence are observed. Especially it is noticeable in the course of construction by birds of holes, and they live in them, but not in nests. Minks of a kiwi have a set of branchings and labyrinths, one dwelling can be equipped with five and more exits. Unusual birdies very carefully mask an entrance to the dwelling branches and a grass. In a hole of a kiwi spend the most part of days, coming for hunting only after a sunset. Birds eat insects, worms, berries, seeds and water invertebrates. The sharpest sense of smell and a long curved beak which they continually start to the earth allows them to find production very quickly. Family life of a kiwi also has the features. Birds are monogamous and if they do not remain faithful each other all life, then several seasons in a row – precisely. However it is possible to call their marriage guest as kiwis do not live together, and only visit to each other, remembering the partner and remaining faithful to it. The male actively participates in incubation of eggs. But right after baby birds are born, parents throw them. From the first days of life of a kiwi learn to survive, counting only on own forces. There live birds of this look long – 50-60 years. Upholstered in the basic in New Zealand, the bird of a kiwi became a symbol of this country. When several decades ago over population of these birds the threat of total disappearance hung, in the state developed the national program for restoration of their number.