The North Island Brown Kiwi, emblem of New Zealand, is a rarely seen, nocturnal creature. It is about 20 in (50 cm) tall. It has basic wings that you don’t really notice hidden under coarse, hair-like body feathers. That will be the first thing you notice because it looks like it could use some arms or other appendages. But as it is without arms/wings, it is a bird ball with long beak and legs. Of course though, to survive in nature, it is well adapted to use the nice equipment it has. Its legs are stout and short, with strong claws for scratching the earth in search of worms, insects, or berries. The nostrils are at the tip of the bird’s long, pointed bill and it seems to have a fairly good sense of smell, something not so common among birds. They root around with this bill to sniff out worms and other goodies they can find to eat in the soil.

Females are larger than males, but otherwise they look similar. The females lay an egg or two in a burrow where they are then incubated by the male. Each egg is very big in comparison with the size of the bird, weighing a pound (450 g) or so.