Second white kiwi brings a white Christmas to Pukaha

Well!  Just when we thought the all our news for the year was done and dusted, yet another remarkable surprise has arrived at Pukaha.

Last Sunday, a second white kiwi hatched. Pure white. Perfect.  Beautiful.   So it’s a white Christmas at Pukaha and we are celebrating this fitting end to what has been a phenomenal year.

See video of Mauriora here (by Mike Heydon)

Our gorgeous new chick is named Mauriora, again by local iwi Rangitane o Wairarapa. 

“We were gob-smacked really,” centre manager Kathy Houkamau said.  “While every kiwi is precious, to have a second white chick is a delightful gift.  “We thought Christmas had come early in May when Manukura arrived but now it’s come twice, and just in time.”

You are warmly invited to visit us and see Manukura (and her brown kiwi cousins) daily in the nocturnal house, and view the Mauriora being hand-reared in the nursery from Boxing Day for approximately 10 days.   

A small number of North Island Brown Kiwi carry a recessive white gene which both the male and female must have to produce a white chick.  It is remarkable that two birds with the rare white gene have paired up in our forest to produce two white chicks.

Both white birds have the same father, who we have identified through his transmitter. We assume the mother is the same because of the rarity of the white gene.  The chances of a pair that both carry the recessive gene producing a white chick are one-in-four.  We know that Manukura and Mauriora’s parents were among the 30 kiwi transferred from Hauturu/Little Barrier Island in 2010.

Mauriora, meaning ‘sustained life’, is a word used by Maori as an exclamation or definition of something important. The new white kiwi is seen as an assurance that we are blessed with more than one special creature and there is potential for more. In the Maori realm, all things have a ‘mauri’ or ‘essence’ but equally significant is that in order for mauri to flourish it must have a second element – the addition of a second white kiwi completes the mauri.

But wait, there’s more!  Of the two kiwi eggs currently incubating in the nursery one is from the same nest as Mauriora.   We’ll keep you posted. Watch out for some stunning new video by our great supporter Mike Heydon – featuring both white birds.