The Haast tokoeka or Haast kiwi (''Apteryx australis'' 'Haast') is a putative subspecies of the

southern brown kiwi The southern brown kiwi, tokoeka, or common kiwiDavies, S. J. J. F. (2003) (''Apteryx australis'') is a species of kiwi from South Island, New Zealand. Until 2000 it was considered conspecific with the North Island brown kiwi, and still is by ...

. It is one of the rarest kiwi in New Zealand. Like other kiwi, this bird is flightless.

Morphology

This bird has red-brown feathers that resemble fur. It is flightless and has small wings and no tail. Its bill is long and narrow.

Habitat and habits

The Haast tokoeka lives high in the mountains on the west side of New Zealand's South Island. About half of its habitat is in a protected area, the

Haast Kiwi Sanctuary Haast is a German family name. It may refer to: * High Availability for Asterisk, a software package which turns any two Asterisk servers into a cluster * Bill Haast (1910–2011), founder of the Miami Serpentarium and pioneering snake venom co ...

. The adult Haast tokoeka live in pairs. They are territorial and fight other adult kiwis over good hunting and foraging ground. They are primarily

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

Taxonomic status

Not all scientists concur that the Haast tokoeka is a separate subspecies from the

Fiordland tokoeka The Fiordland tokoeka or Fiordland kiwi (''Apteryx australis australis'') is a subspecies of southern brown kiwi. It is endemic to New Zealand. Like other ratites, it is flightless. Morphology The Fiordland tokoeka is among the largest of sout ...

. New Zealand Birds Online refers to the Haast tokoeka as "recognised as being distinct for management purposes" because of its genetic and bodily differences from the Fiordland tokoeka.

Conservation

There are about 400 Haast tokoeka alive. Like other kiwi, the Haast tokoeka are threatened by habitat loss and

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

, such as dogs, cats, and stoats. In the Haast Kiwi Sanctuary, human beings place traps to catch stoats.

Breeding

The kiwi make nests in a hollow logs, cracks in rocks, or space dug out of the ground. The egg is large and pale green in color. The male and female kiwi both incubate the egg.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q108292140 Ratites Flightless birds Birds of New Zealand Apteryx