Like its larger cousins the cassowary, emu, ostrich, and rhea, the kiwi is classified as a ratite. Most birds have a special ridge on their sternum, called a keel, where flight muscles attach, but ratites don’t need keels because they don’t fly. Find out more!

Scientists thought for many years that the kiwi’s closest relative was another ratite called a moa, an extinct bird that was also native to New Zealand. However, recent genetic studies have shown that Africa’s ostrich is related to the moa while the kiwi is more closely related to Madagascar’s extinct elephant bird.

The kiwi lives in forested areas of New Zealand that tend to be very steep and wet, surrounded by shrubs and trees found nowhere else on Earth. Since it is not able to fly up into trees to nest, rest, or escape from danger, the kiwi makes its home in burrows in the ground of its swampy forest or grassland habitat.

The bird digs multiple burrows within its territory, using strong toes and claws. Nest burrows, dug early in the season, become overgrown at the entrance to provide great camouflage by the time the female is ready to lay her eggs.

The kiwi is the only bird in the world that has nostrils at the tip of its bill. It also has a highly developed sense of smell. Using only scent to find food and sensory pads at the tip of the bill to catch its food, the kiwi lives on grubs, worms, bugs, berries, and seeds. If dirt gets sniffed up in it nostrils, the kiwi can sneeze it out! It can also use its sturdy, powerful feet to kick apart rotting logs to find beetles to eat.