Trivia question for May-20-2011

Carter is back on for todays trivia and since today is National Endangered Species Day (as well as our 2nd Annual OMG Day), he decided to focus on something that is really in-danger of extinction.  This is what he came up with:

It was long presumed that these birds were closely related to the other New Zealand ratites, the moa. However, recent DNA studies indicate that the Ostrich is more closely related to the moa and this bird is more closely related to the Emu and the cassowaries.  There are five recognized species, all of which are endangered; all species have been adversely affected by historic deforestation but currently large areas of their forest habitat are well protected in reserves and national parks. At present, the greatest threat to their survival is predation by invasive mammalian predators.

So here are Carter’s questions:  Tell us why all New Zealanders are named after this bird and tell us how far they can see during the day and how far they can see at night.  Also tell us what is peculiar about the time it takes to incubate their eggs.

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

OMG… Marie did it again.  Congratulations for getting ALL the trivia correct.  The bird we featured is the Kiwi.  Kiwi are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world.

The kiwi is a national symbol of New Zealand – indeed, the association is so strong that the term Kiwi is used, all over the world, as the colloquial demonym for New Zealanders.  Kiwis have poor eyesight; they can see only about 3-inches in daylight and about7-inches in the dark.  Kiwis produce enormous eggs that are incubated for longer than any other species of bird.

The male incubates the egg and the incubation period is 63–92 days. Producing the huge egg places a lot of demands on the female. For the thirty days it takes to grow the fully developed egg the female must eat three times her normal amount of food. Two to three days before the egg is laid there is little space left inside the female for her stomach and she is forced to fast.  Here is more on these cute flightless birds: Kiwis

Thanks for playing along 😉