The Moehau Kiwi Sanctuary has gone full circle since it was established in 2000 with the release of the first kiwi chick produced by a monitored kiwi in the area. As part of Bank of New Zealand Kiwi Recovery, monitored kiwi are fitted with radio transmitters so they can be tracked and studied. This research answers questions about kiwi breeding, survival, migration, and the success of predator control programmes.

Project Leader, Pim De Monchy says, “This release is exciting because this is the first time confirmed breeding has taken place from a known age kiwi of either sex”.
Taniwha, the chick’s mother, was born in Port Charles in February 2002 and travelled to the western side of Te Moehau where she found an ‘unmonitored’ mate.

The young kiwi couple were found together for the first time in March 2005 which suggests Taniwha paired up after three years and she was three and a half when she laid her first egg. The egg was retrieved from the young kiwi pair in late October 2005 because of difficulties in monitoring the site. It was taken to Kiwi Encounter at Rainbow Springs to be hatched and incubated.
Staff at Kiwi Encounter named the chick Macintosh when it hatched just after Christmas. Macintosh is now gaining weight and will be returned to the forest near the Coromandel Walkway (Stony Bay) on Friday afternoon.

Chicks are released at a really young age at Te Moehau due to very high survival rates (77% compared to national average of 5%).
Taniwha’s transmitter will be removed next time she is captured because no further information is required once a monitored kiwi has bred. All kiwi transmitters will be removed in 2008 at the completion of this research project.

DOC kiwi information: Paul Jansen 04 471 3236 or 025 410 026
DOC media liaison: Carol Nanning 07 867 7184