The birds that snort in the night

BEFORE the Europeans colonised New Zealand, there were millions of kiwis.

This is a bird that is almost extraterrestrial in appearance: so primitive in evolutionary terms that it bears little resemblance to any other living bird. A kiwi’s pear-shaped body goes with a small head, solid bones and oversized feet. Only the beak is bird-like. When the first kiwi skins arrived in Britain, they were dismissed as a hoax, but then became popular subjects for taxidermy. Thousands were also killed for the fashion trade for muffs and to replicate fur trimmings.

At one time, three species were recognised, but more recently taxonomists have agreed on a total of five. They include the great spotted (), lesser spotted (), Okarito brown () and North Island brown kiwis (). The commonest species is the fifth, the southern brown (), which is the species usually exhibited in zoos outside of New Zealand.