Day 20 - Sunday March 3, 2024 - Rotorua

By Ellen Outten

 We started our day at a decent hour.  On the bus at 8:45 for a trip to the Kiwi Heritage Trust.

We had a wonderful guide and were given a great deal of information about the Kiwi bird.  I always thought they were tiny little birds but that's not the case.  

They give birth to an average of 1 1/2 lb. egg which is the equivalent of a woman giving birth to a 35 lb baby.

Additionally, they don't imprint and their parents are not interested in them at all.  In fact, they all pretty much hare and fight each other shortly after birth.  Mothers kick them out after birth, fathers are normally the ones that sit in the egg until born but will trample them after birth if they're in the way.

I laughed at our guide who was humorous and very knowledgeable but she kept telling all these stories and called them cure and lovable but made sure we knew that they would claw each other to death at any given moment.

They're born, out of the shell with all their feathers because they have to protect themselves immediately.  Females have longer beaks than males and make a lower pitched squeak.  Males are not as loud.  Their parents won't protect them!  But they're cute!

The main room was the only place we were allowed to take pictures.  The hatchery and the nocturnal room were off limits.




Replicas of the Kiwi and the actual egg size.

From there we went to the Paradise Springs Wildlife Park.   The "zoo" was interesting but their critters alwwre all common place.  Lots of trout in streams.  Farm animals such as pigs, donkeys, chickens.  There were a few interesting birds we don't have in the US.  Llamas and alpacas and a few wallabys were as exotic as they got there.


Giant Redwood tree 



Trout in the stream. They don't have trout at any restaurant.  They just fish for them.


Wallabys 












We had the afternoon free and then at 4:15 pm the group went to the Maori cultural center and dinner there.   I stayed back at the room.  Something I ate either at dinner the night before or breakfast yesterday told me to stay close to the room.  Wayne enjoyed it and his pictures will do a better job of explaining the experience.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 5, 2024 at 8:01 AM

    What a tough life for the Kiwi! Can't believe they are on their own since birth! 🥺
    Great animal pictures!

    ReplyDelete

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