Brown Kiwi - adult one standing in native Kauri forest with fallen Kauri twigs visible on ground (Apteryx australis). Trounson Kauri Park Scenic Reserve, Northland, North Island, New Zealand. The kiwi is New Zealand's most ancient living bird and a biological oddity. Flightless and largely nocturnal its one-off evolutionary design holds all sorts of biological records. Kiwi build burrows and lay a huge egg that produces a mature fully-feathered independent chick. And that's where they are at their most vulnerable. Introduced predators and ferral cats or dogs kill the chicks and can erradicate a whole generation of kiwi. That's why special programs to protect the kiwi are in place. Eggs and chicks are removed from the bush to return them again to the wild when they gained enough weight to be big enough to fight off predators. The kiwi is highly threatened and also the icon of New Zealand.