From what the Keeper at the aviary told me was that this Kiwi was estimated to be around 30-35 years old. His Name is Pee Wee and he came from the San Diego Zoo. This exhibit is entirely daylight and he's stationed in a little rock hut. There's 3 other species of birds in this exhibit : Guira Cuckoo,Black-Headed Gonolek and Blue-Faced Honeyeater. i fell that this exhibit is well for the 3 species of birds but for the kiwi it does nothing. The keeper told me that they take the other birds off exhibit round closing time and shut the lights out for the kiwi bird. She goes on saying that they put fruit and other edible foods for the kiwi but she's never seen it walking around his exhibit. Could this kiwi be stressed of his new home? could it be of his age?It looks like to me that the national aviary is a final home for this bird but like i said before i fell that they don't do enough for this bird well doing and enrichment wise. I like for other zoochatters to chime in on this topic. thks matt
seems like a stupid and thoroughly pointless idea for a kiwi exhibit!
In terms of it not being seen by the keeper, kiwi take a long time to settle into a new environment and so at first they stay inside their burrow/box, only coming out for brief periods to eat. Some kiwi can take up to five months before they start coming out regularly (at night obviously, or in a reversed night-day situation). They take a lot of patience.
Now I would never call a kiwi a waste of space but it seems a bit ridiculous to have such a nice space like this for an animal that, as it is, will never come out and use it. I'm glad that they have other birds here for this enclosure but they're all small species. If it were me, I would take the kiwi out until a better enclosure could be provided and put another medium-sized ground dwelling bird in here. Maybe a rail or pheasant of some sort. A bustard might even do!
Also, I wouldn't expect the kiwi and cuckoo to get along so well.
Now I would never call a kiwi a waste of space but it seems a bit ridiculous to have such a nice space like this for an animal that, as it is, will never come out and use it. I'm glad that they have other birds here for this enclosure but they're all small species. If it were me, I would take the kiwi out until a better enclosure could be provided and put another medium-sized ground dwelling bird in here. Maybe a rail or pheasant of some sort. A bustard might even do!
Also, I wouldn't expect the kiwi and cuckoo to get along so well.
The Aviary no longer has the Kiwi. It went to Toledo Zoo. I will let you know what goes in here in November as the aviary is remodeling this part of the facility and new species will go in there.
