To continue with the adorable Australians, let's talk about kiwi birds. Those are endemic to New Zealand, but that's ok, New Zealand is still closer to Australia than anything else. Also, being a size of a small cat with the feathers almost as smooth as cat's fur, they are totally adorable. And undoubtedly interesting:
- There are few birds who can't fly. Kiwi have the smallest wings among all of them;
- Most birds rely heavily on their vision. Kiwi are almost blind and use sense of smell to find their food;
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In most bird species females take care about the eggs. Kiwi males take care about the eggs for the whole three months of the incubation period.
But the most interesting kiwi fact is not about the bird itself but about its egg. Kiwi eggs are huge. In fact, the kiwi keep the record of the largest egg to the body size ratio. Kiwi egg could be 20% of the size of the bird and weights as much as 450 grammes. Not bad for a creature not much heavier (the largest species weight only two kilos). And to push the degree of nature's madness higher, sometimes kiwi can have two eggs simultaneously.
