Kiwi

The kiwi is a group of flightless bird species native only to New Zealand, roughly the size of a domestic chicken but unusual among birds for their long, slender bill with nostrils near the tip rather than the base, an adaptation that lets them sniff out earthworms, insects and other invertebrates hidden in the soil and leaf litter. Kiwi are nocturnal, have hair-like feathers and virtually no visible tail, and possess a keen sense of smell, unusually well developed for a bird, along with a proportionally enormous egg relative to the female's body size. As New Zealand's most recognized national symbol, giving its name to the informal term for New Zealanders themselves, the kiwi has become a major focus of conservation, as introduced predators such as stoats, cats and dogs, absent from New Zealand before human arrival, have driven sharp population declines across several kiwi species, most of which are classified as vulnerable or endangered.