The national bird, as a symbol, is a symbol of a country and a nation, like the national flower, the national flag and the national anthem. As a national bird, it must be a symbol of the country's national spirit, loved by the people of the country or a rare bird unique to the country. At present, more than 120 countries and regions in the world have identified national birds. The coats of arms of the United States and Australia both appear on the country's national birds: the bald eagle and the emu (the Australian ostrich, a folk selection, the other is the lyrebird).
The bald eagle represents a mighty, strong spirit
Kangaroos and emus represent endemic australian animals, and the shields represent 6 states
The following is new Zealand's national bird: the brown kiwi, which belongs to the wingless bird genus of the wingless bird family Of the order Ornithischia, and there are 5 species in existence in the world, which are only distributed in New Zealand. Also known as the sandpiper, the Kiwi has a sharp and harsh call that sounds specifically like "kiwi" (several... dimension... ), so it is called kiwi by the local indigenous Maori people. The Kiwi has a keen sense of smell, its wings are degraded, it cannot fly; its eyes are small, its vision is degraded, it inhabits dense forests, it is diurnal and nocturnal, and it has a docile personality. It feeds mainly on ground insects, spiders, snails, etc., and also eats the berries of plants. A sensitive sense of smell plays a vital role in predation.
The kiwi bird has degenerated vision, cannot fly, and is diurnal and nocturnal
The last column in the table is the level of protection as defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Brown kiwi bird. The largest one, 55-80 cm long and weighing 3.5 kg
Small spotted kiwi bird. It is the smallest, with a body length of about 35 cm and a weight of 1.2 kg
Large-spotted Kiwi bird. The body shape is between the brown kiwi and the small spotted kiwi
The large-spotted kiwi is only distributed in the western part of New Zealand's South Island, while the small-spotted kiwi is distributed in both the North Island and the South Island, and the brown kiwi is the most widely distributed, in addition to the South Island and the North Island, it is also found on Stewart Island.
Map of New Zealand
The kiwi is one of the most peculiar of birds, some of which are more like mammals than birds: the wings are highly degraded and invisible in appearance; the feathers look like animal hair; like beasts, they hide in burrows during the day and come out at night; they have a well-developed sense of smell like beasts, and have sensitive tentacles around their mouths, relying on smell and touch to find food. Another peculiarity of kiwi birds is that the eggs they lay are very large. Although the kiwi is not large, the size of the eggs is similar to that of those large close relatives, second only to ostrich eggs, reaching 400-450 grams, accounting for 1/4-1/3 of the body weight, the largest proportion of all birds.
The kiwi bird is not proud of its appearance, the eyes are small, the appearance of the feathers is similar to the animal hair, the color is not gorgeous, the wing height is degraded, and it is diurnal and night-rising, which can be said to be another species among birds! Due to its geographical relationship, it and the island of New Zealand have been isolated from the world as early as tens of millions of years ago, becoming a rare bird unique to New Zealand, which has been breeding to this day, and like the ostrich, it has become a unique and rare "flightless bird" in the world, which is also an important reason why it can become the national bird of New Zealand!