The artificial incubation of wild
laid kiwi eggs – a conservation
tool
Suzanne Bassett1 & Claire Travers2
1Oralis
2Kiwi
Limited, Dunedin, New Zealand
Encounter, Rainbow Springs, Rotorua,
New Zealand
J. Newman
Acknowledgements
• Department of Conservation & all community
trust kiwi projects
• Kiwi Encounter, Rainbow Springs, Rotorua
• Massey University & University of Otago
• Dr Trevor Kelly, Vet Centre, Rotorua
Talk outline
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Kiwi biology
Kiwi decline & threats
Operation Nest Egg
Incubation challenges
Ethical considerations
Kiwi welfare
Summary
Ratites
M. Potter
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Kiwi
Cassowary
Emu
Ostrich
Rhea
Moa
Elephant bird
Taxonomy
• North Island brown kiwi
(Apteryx mantelli)
• Southern tokoeka
(Apteryx australis)
R. Morris
• Okarito brown kiwi
(Apteryx rowi)
• Haast tokoeka
(Apteryx australis ‘’Haast’)
• Great spotted kiwi
(Apteryx haastii)
• Little spotted kiwi
(Apteryx owenii)
R. Morris
Kiwi abundance & distribution
• North Island brown
kiwi (25,000)
• Great spotted kiwi
(17,000)
• Southern tokoeka
(15,000)
• Haast tokoeka (300)
• Little spotted kiwi
(1,500)
Department of Conservation
• Okarito brown kiwi
(250)
The kiwi egg & chick
• Egg large relative to body size
(20%) (~440 g)
• 1 functional oviduct,
2 functional ovaries
• 2 eggs/clutch,
2-3 clutches/yr (NIBK)
1 egg/1 clutch/yr (SI sp)
• High fertility (NIBK)
Low fertility (SI sp)
• Male incubation, length
~85 d wild, 78 d art inc
• Highly precocial chicks (~320 g
hatch weight)
Otorohanga Zoological Society
Kiwi decline
• All kiwi are endangered
• Adult mortality ranges
5 – 16%/yr
- Predators cause 28%
mortality
• 50% eggs failed to hatch
–10% due to predators
• Rate of decline 6%/yr
(McLennan et al . 1996)
Kiwi Encounter
Juvenile kiwi mortality
• Juvenile kiwi mortality
94%
– Introduced mustelids
kill 77%
Forest & Bird
• Main predator =
STOATS
(Mustela erminea)
Tui De Roy
• Predation declines
as chicks grow
Management responses
• Habitat protection
– Public lands – Department of
Conservation
– Private lands – Landcare Trust,
QE2 Trust, Community
programs
G.L. Blackwell
• Predator Control
- Poisoning, trapping and exclusion
fencing of mammalian predators
• Direct management of Kiwi
– Captive rearing of wild-laid eggs
& chicks (Operation Nest Egg –
ONE)
Department of Conservation
Operation Nest Egg
Kiwi eggs & chicks removed from the wild
Taken to a captive rearing
institute for incubation,
hatching & rearing
Chicks raised until 800 g+
& released to wild
Chicks released in
predator free area
O.N.E a short term measure to ‘buy time’
Management & animal welfare
• Habitat protection – few ethical issues
• Predator Control
- On conservation estate DOC does not require
AEC approval for “regular & routine” animal control
under Section 5, sub-sect 3a, b, c of Animal
Welfare Act 1999
• Direct management of Kiwi
–Administered by DOC
–ONE also considered “regular & routine” captive
management under Animal Welfare Act 1999
Kiwi Encounter
• 1995/96: (1 egg)  2007/08 (171 eggs)
• Egg age 0 – 75 days (2005/06 median 38 days)
• 910 eggs to end of 07/08, 667 eggs viable,
623 chicks released to date
• Forced draft artificial incubation
Kiwi Encounter
• Focus on North Island brown kiwi
Incubation challenges
High hatch success but…
• Cracked eggs
• Embryo mortality
• Malpositioned chicks
 assisted hatches
S. Bassett & KE
Egg results 2007/08
• 120/171 eggs incubated
(70 % eggs viable)
• 106/120 chicks hatched
(88 % hatch success)
• 1000th ONE chick
S Bassett
Waikato Times
• New techniques: x-rays,
advances in candling & incubation,
chick rearing and release
protocols
T. Kelly
• Improvements in O.N.E
-  hatch success
(40 % to 90+ %)
-  chick survivorship
pre-release 60 % to 95 %
post-release 80+ %
Kiwi Encounter
General conclusions
Kiwi Encounter & animal welfare
• O.N.E
– “Regular & routine” management under Animal
Welfare Act 1999
– Ongoing research to improve animal welfare in ONE
• Ways to improve hatching success and chick survival
• Egg and chick transportation protocols
• Disease management and quarantine protocols
• Approved by DOC and the Kiwi Recovery Group
Kiwi Encounter & animal welfare
• Day to day husbandry
– Hygiene, housing, feeding, health
• “Yolk-sac” operations to remove impacted/infected yolk
• Abandoned eggs or chicks
– Development and refinement of best practice
– Responsible to DOC & Australasian Regional
Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria
(ARAZPA)
Kiwi Encounter &
broader kiwi welfare
• Injured birds
– Small numbers of injured
kiwi treated by Kiwi
Encounter
• Vehicle collisions
• Trap injuries
• Dog attacks – wild dogs &
‘kiwi’ dog accidents
– Poor public & vet. awareness
of standards & responses to
injury/harm
Kiwi Encounter
Kiwi Encounter &
broader kiwi welfare
• Concerns about impacts of
O.N.E on kiwi welfare
– Do captive reared kiwi have
lower survival than wild
chicks?
• No difference in survival
• Earlier breeding attempts
– Is there evidence of stress
or harm to captive kiwi
• No imprinting
• No evidence of prolonged
stress
Kiwi Encounter
General conclusions –
kiwi conservation
• Increased public
awareness of kiwi
conservation
• Change in perception
of O.N.E
• Increased kiwi
numbers
• Strategic use of
O.N.E
- pulsed application
by year or by area
e.g. stoat eruption
S Bassett
Summary
• Kiwi continue to decline but…
Captive rearing is making a huge difference
• Urgently require effective stoat control
… a long way off
The next step …
• Improve husbandry for other kiwi sp
• O.N.E to recover populations near extinction
– eg South Island species
• Continue to follow & improve best practice for
husbandry & welfare
• Public education on kiwi welfare
Kiwi Encounter
Thank you