Kiwi

Kiwi are any of the three species of small flightless birds endemic to New Zealand of the genus Apteryx (the only genus in family Apterygidae). At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites, although in comparison to their body size their egg (weighing as much as a quarter of the adult bird's weight) is proportionately the largest of all birds. Kiwi are nocturnal and live mainly by foraging with their long beaks for earthworms and other invertebrates in leaf litter, which they find using their sense of smell which is unusually well-developed for a bird.

All three kiwi species are protected and much reduced in range, though the large size of their eggs does offer some protection against the depradations of rats, compared to other ground-nesting native birds such as the kakapo and takahe.

The kiwi is a national symbol of New Zealand, and the term is often used to describe a person from New Zealand.