[i]f you click on the link you'll read his long sad story of a broken leg that had to be rebroken, his release, another broken leg and transfusion.

so sad . . . so lazy ;)

Looks pretty small. We're going to need a couple more to make that kiwi pie.

That's why they're endangered.

When it made the leap from dinosaur to bird, it bounced part way to mammal before it could stop.;)

Well if we'd stop breaking their legs...:eyebrow:

Coming next week to an IOTD near you: Kangaroo on a trampoline

Of course they are endangered. They have been hunted down for decades for their shoe shine glands.

I'm surprised the species isn't extinct:

*Can't burrow a protective underground home

*Can't outrun much of anything that wants to eat it.
(Cellar members excluded) :p:

*Can't fly.

*Can't swim fast, if at all.

*Can't climb trees to get away from predators.

*Nice claws, but most predators can still clean it's clock.

Flightless birds are a risky proposition. Emu, and Ostrich are the only ones I know of that live on land, and have been successful. (Roadrunners can fly a bit - and do nest above ground)

Mebbe it should be reclassified as a wombless mammal?

They can burrow, actually - some species make rather intricate, labyrinth-style burrows, whilst others will make single-entrance burrows... It varies amongst species, but, they are all rather successful burrowers.

They are very strong swimmers, capable of traversing even rather heavy-flowing rivers.

They're very fast, especially for their size - able to fiercely defend a territory 62 acres or more in size, every night.*

* Being as small as they are, and yet, able to maintain such a large territory, is evidence of great tenacity, as well as relative-to-size great speed. I forget how fast they can actually move, but, lacking other defences, the Kiwi uses its SPEED to evade predators... surviving millions of years, prior to the introducing of non-native predators to their habitat, thanks to their speed.

Many animals can't fly. Doesn't stop them living very successful, long lives. (Kiwi live, on average, between 20 - 30 years, and as stated, have existed for millennia, without any threat of extinction, prior to man, anyway.)

Also - They have an incredible sense of smell, to help them know when predators are around, as well as to locate food sources; they can even locate insects, beneath the ground, using nothing but their sense of smell.

Oh, and don't believe what you hear, about them being stupid, or half-blind, either. They have good eye-sight, and are very fast learners.

(Once more - I apologise for not being around... damn surface dwellers keepin' me down... or up, I suppose.)

Until humans turned up, there were no mammals (except a few bats) in New Zealand. No rats, cats, foxes, dogs, human hunters etc etc. There were many ground-dwelling birds that are now in great danger.

As well as the Giant Moa, there seems to have been some kind of enormous Eagle - wing-span 3-4 metres (10-13 feet). Maori legends told of great birds that could carry off human children, and while these were usually dismissed, recent fossil finds suggest such a bird existed.

Kiwis fight other kiwis, too. Put two male kiwis in a box and in a few hours you'll have a dead kiwi.

What happened to the other Kiwi?

I must know.

I may seem heavy-handed, but when I lend money I expect to get it back, okay?

He works for me.