Haast tokoeka
| Haast tokoeka | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Infraclass: | Palaeognathae |
| Order: | Apterygiformes |
| Family: | Apterygidae |
| Genus: | Apteryx |
| Species: | A. australis Haast
|
| Binomial name | |
| Apteryx australis Haast | |
The Haast tokoeka or Haast kiwi (Apteryx australis Haast) is a subspecies of southern brown kiwi. It is one of the rarest kiwi in New Zealand.[1][2] This bird does not fly. It runs on the ground.[3]
Appearance
This bird has red-brown feathers that look like fur. It has small wings and does not fly. It has no tail. It has a long bill, or beak.[3]
Habitat and food
The Haast tokoeka lives high in the mountains on the west side of New Zealand's South Island. About half of the place where these kiwi live is in the Haast Kiwi Sanctuary. This place is protected by the government of New Zealand.[1] [4]
The adult Haast tokoeka live in pairs. They will fight other adult kiwis over good places to look for food. They mostly hide during the day and look for food at night.[3][5][6]
Status
Not everyone agrees that the Haast tokoeka is a separate subspecies from the Fiordland tokoeka.[3]
Threats
There are about 400 Haast tokoeka alive.[1] Like other kiwis, the Haast tokoeka are threatened by habitat loss from when human beings change the places they live into farms and other things. They are also threatened by invasive species, which are animals brought to New Zealand by humans, for example, dogs, cats, and stoats.
In the Haast Kiwi Sanctuary, human beings put traps to catch stoats.[1] Stoats are animals like weasels. They were brought to New Zealand by humans, and they eat kiwi chicks.[3]
Breeding
The kiwis make a nest in a hollow log, crack in a rock or space dug out of the ground. The egg is large and pale green in color. The male and female kiwi both sit on the egg.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Tokoeka – literally meaning 'weka with a walking stick' (Ngāi Tahu) - has three geographically and genetically distinct forms: Haast, Fiordland, and Rakiura (Stewart Island)". New Zealand Department of Conservation. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Daniel White; Ana Ramón-Laca; Jacinda Amey; Hugh Robertson (2018). "Novel genetic variation in an isolated population of the nationally critical Haast tokoeka (Apteryx australis 'Haast') reveals extreme short-range structure within this cryptic and flightless bird". Conservation Genetics. 19 (6): 1401–1410. doi:10.1007/s10592-018-1109-0. S2CID 52824376. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Southern Brown Kiwi". New Zealand Birds Online. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
- ↑ "New kiwi population discovered in New Zealand". Bird Guides. July 10, 2019. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
- ↑ Dominic Couzens (June 18, 2015). Top 100 Birding Sites Of The World. Bloomsbury Publishing. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
- ↑ Bette Flagler (2004). Adventure Guide to New Zealand. Hunter Publishing, Incorporated. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
