The National Kiwi Hatchery Aotearoa
Wildlife Parks / North
The whole family will love the Kiwi Hatchery! It’s the only purpose-built kiwi conservation centre in the world that’s open to the public, and is New Zealand’s only open-to-view kiwi hatchery and rearing facility.
Here you get an incredible behind-the-scenes glimpse of the passionate efforts to save our iconic bird from extinction.
The National Kiwi Hatchery Aotearoa incubates kiwi eggs and hatches kiwi chicks at the hatchery, playing a vital role in saving our national bird. In the wild, kiwi eggs get eaten by predators. Out of every 100 kiwi eggs laid in burrows in the forest, only five kiwi chicks will make it to adulthood. By hatching the kiwi eggs in safety at the National Kiwi Hatchery, and the birds have a 98% survival rate.
Then, once a kiwi chick has grown to the magic weight of 1kg, it is transported back to their home forest where they are released back into the wild – another healthy adult kiwi to help save the species! Releasing them when they're at least 1kg in weight, increases their survival rate in the wild from 5% to 65%.
The National Kiwi Hatchery Aotearoa incubates kiwi eggs and hatches kiwi chicks at the hatchery, playing a vital role in saving our national bird. In the wild, kiwi eggs get eaten by predators. Out of every 100 kiwi eggs laid in burrows in the forest, only five kiwi chicks will make it to adulthood. By hatching the kiwi eggs in safety at the National Kiwi Hatchery, and the birds have a 98% survival rate.
Then, once a kiwi chick has grown to the magic weight of 1kg, it is transported back to their home forest where they are released back into the wild – another healthy adult kiwi to help save the species! Releasing them when they're at least 1kg in weight, increases their survival rate in the wild from 5% to 65%.