kiwis

I am learning to inform my audience through an information report

Do you know what the closest and oldest living thing to a emu is? If you guessed a kiwi you are right. The kiwi is relative of the emu, moa and ostrich, these are flightless birds as well. However the kiwi is the smallest flightless and is only about the size of a chicken. The female kiwi is generally also larger than the male kiwi. The female is larger because she has to hold and lay the egg, the size of the egg is about the same size as an ostrich egg. The kiwi is also an important icon and bird to New Zealand because the kiwi is native to New Zealand and quite often New Zealanders are called kiwis. The kiwi is endangered and it is our job as New Zealanders to protect and help their chances of survival. To do this we need to understand their diet, there habitat and their predators. We need to do more to help these animals to survive.

Diet:
Kiwis eat a range of different types of food, they eat both plant and animals for energy. For instance the kiwi likes to snack on grubs, berries, leaves, and even freshwater crayfish. The kiwi is nocturnal, this means they sleep through the day and come out at night to go and source their food. They kiwi doesn’t need much water to survive because they collect a lot of water from the food they eat. An example of this is the earthworm, as the earthworm is made up of 85 % water. When the kiwi does require a little extra water it will dip its beak and tilt its head up to garle back the water. In order for the kiwi to get food it needs to have a safe habitat.

Habitat

Home sweet home, we all enjoy our home comforts and the kiwi is no different. A habitat is a place where all the needs of an animal are meet. The kiwi needs to have a place where it hide during the day and sleep, yet come out at night and find a range of food. The kiwi habitat also need to be dark and damp as they prefer to have the coverage from trees etc to protect them from the weather of the day. Kiwis are rather adaptable to environments and live in lots of different places such as farm lands, forests, sand dunes and even lower snowy mountains. They create burrows so they can nest and sleep safely during the day.

Predators
The kiwi has many predators because they cannot fly and are located on the ground. This make it easy for attacks from predators and makes the kiwi vulnerable. The predators of the kiwi are stoats, rats, cats, dogs and wild pigs. These animals came to New Zealand via boats when the british came. These predators don’t just attack the kiwi but some of them are out to kill and eat the eggs of kiwi. This is endangering the number of kiwis in New Zealand we must help to provide safe environments for the kiwi.

As you see the kiwi is important to New Zealand because they are a national treasure and are symbolic to our country. The kiwi is endangered and it is our job to protect them. We need to know about their diet, habitat and the range of predators. If we understand this then we can help to keep them alive. The kiwi is a unique and amazing animal that New Zealand needs to protect them.