\u201cThey\u2019re pretty good at kicking. They\u2019ve got big tough legs, big claws, and they can tag you, they can tag each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamilton said the birds were unlikely to seriously injure one another.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll be sore, but it\u2019s more like sparring rather than to the death,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hamilton said kiwi are tough in their bottom half but have fragile bills and chests, so they\u2019ll keep punching and kicking at each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike a lot of animals, they\u2019re fighting over territory and mates. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nature at work. The biggest, strongest animal gets to pass on its genes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Department of Conservation principal ranger for biodiversity Kev Carter, speaking from Stewart Island, agreed, describing the confrontation as \u201ca bit of a turf war\u201d during breeding season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll more vigorously defend their territories at that time of year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carter said Ulva Island\u2019s kiwi population was likely close to carrying capacity, meaning the island might already be supporting about as many kiwi as it can.<\/p>\n
Carter said kiwi were thriving on the island because it remained pest-free.<\/p>\n
Kiwi fighting on Ulva Island. Photo \/ Ulva Island Ferry<\/p>\n
Hamilton said scenes like this may have been commonplace before predators arrived in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the pre-human days there must have been millions and millions of kiwi,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were no stoats to eat the chicks and no dogs to kill the adults. The biggest issue would probably have been fighting for space and food.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamilton said the footage suggested the local kiwi population was thriving.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a healthy sign. They must be going well down there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Northland residents have recorded similar encounters on home security cameras as kiwi numbers have recovered in parts of the region.<\/p>\n
Backyard Kiwi\u2019s Todd Hamilton said kiwi are territorial birds and fighting was not unusual among them.<\/p>\n
Hamilton said sustained predator control and responsible dog ownership had helped drive the resurgence in other parts of the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019ve got kiwi already, the most important thing you can do is control your dogs,\u201d Hamilton said.<\/p>\n
Dogs remain one of the greatest threats to adult kiwi.<\/p>\n
He said protecting adults was crucial because a kiwi can breed for decades, having up to three chicks a year. <\/p>\n
However, only about 5% of chicks born in the wild survive to reach adulthood due to predators, according to Save the Kiwi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThey\u2019re pretty good at kicking. They\u2019ve got big tough legs, big claws, and they can tag you, they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[44486,1558,1389,24392,19056,5658,16840,305,78,2514,39533,194,111,139,69,193,8205,147,7806,3502,1361,1237,283251,406],"class_list":["post-574772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-battering","tag-been","tag-conservation","tag-each","tag-encounter","tag-experts","tag-filmed","tag-have","tag-in","tag-island","tag-kicking","tag-kiwi","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-other","tag-rare","tag-science","tag-sign","tag-success","tag-that","tag-two","tag-ulva","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}