Newborn kiwi marks special milestone at national hatchery
Keepers at the National Kiwi Hatchery in Rotorua have announced the arrival of a special kiwi chick.
The newly-hatched chick, that arrived on March 31, is the offspring of a male called Tahi, who was the first kiwi chick born at the hatchery in 1987.
While in residence, Tahi sired 20 chicks and fostered about 16 eggs.
He was released into O¯ tanewainuku Forest in the Bay of Plenty in 2017 where the team hoped Tahi would establish a territory, find a mate and incubate more eggs in the wild.
“The team at the Otanewainuku ¯ Kiwi Trust have kindly kept us up to date with Tahi’s progress and they’ve invited us to Tahi’s health checks and egg lifts, which has been wonderful,” hatchery manager
Emma Bean said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, it took him a while to find a female and her first three eggs were not viable, so receiving two viable eggs from him earlier last month was incredibly exciting.
“Everyone at the hatchery knows Tahi and we are just so pleased he has started his own family and that we have the privilege to look after his next generation.”
The chick is doing well, eating and gaining weight.
Its daily health checks will coincide with a hatchery tour, so some lucky manuhiri will be able to see this extra special chick.
The second egg is due to hatch over the April school holidays.
Visitors can come to the hatchery free during the April school holidays (April 17 to May 2) when they bring in completed colouring competition.
Entries are available from the National Kiwi Hatchery website.
The hatchery is open 8.30am to 2pm every day during the school holidays and at those times from Thursdays to Sundays outside of the holidays.
Tours run every hour on the hour starting from 9am with the last tour of the day at 1pm.