Where do Kiwis come from?
Kiwi (or Kiwis) are flightless birds native to New Zealand. Their eggs are the biggest in relation to the size of their body among all the birds' species in the world! Kiwi are related to Malagasy, an extinct species of elephant birds. Kiwi are in danger nowadays! Two species of kiwi are vulnerable, one is endangered and one is critically endangered. Deforestation has affected kiwi very negatively, but now these birds are protected in special reservation areas and parks. The greatest threat for them nowadays is invasive predation.
The kiwi is a symbol bird of New Zealand, and the association is so strong that the word "Kiwi" is used internationally as the conversational demonym for the people of NZ.
Have you ever seen such a bird? They are funny, aren't they? And they need people's help to survive!
More Info:
wikipedia
What are your thoughts on this subject?
109 Comments
Steve McVey
Hey people - quit your whining, a kiwi is not a fruit it's a bird. The word kiwi with reference to the fruit is an Americanisation of the correct term kiwifruit - shortened presumably because it would burn too many calories to say it properly
Steve McVey
Barry Dingle Ever heard the saying 'a bad workman always blames his tools'?
kgarza
Barry Dingle, if Microsoft is so bad and the people who use the software is "brainless," then answer me why we got it right and you brains didn't?
Carroll Price
Kiwi is good shoe polish too, I want you to know.
Nina Kamwene
My daughter is half Kiwi and we are going to NZ at Xmas time. Yippee!
They also have a delicious Kiwi fruit. Kiwis is also a name for New Zealanders.
Jo Cotton
The fruit was originally called a Chinese gooseberry, but was changed to kiwi fruit for marketing purposes, because we grow and export so many of them in New Zealand. The kiwi bird as pictured is only found in New Zealand. New Zealanders are also known as Kiwis, we call ourselves Kiwis and a lot of countries refer to us as Kiwis.
Steven Cichacki
nope the question was about the bird, you'd have known that had you looked at the picture below the question..
But I think you already knew that and your "facts" are merely for entertianment and trivia purposes.
Kat Frederick
James Mohn...It didn't ask where "Kiwi Fruit" comes from. It asked where "Kiwis" come from, and it showed a photo of the funny looking li'l Bird, too, which would indicate that the question was about the "Bird" and not the "Fruit"!
Also, the "Kiwi Fruit" is grown in several countries, such as Italy, New Zealand, Chile, Greece, and France. :)
Kat Frederick
Karen Garza...I have never used "MSIE", on any of my Computers, Laptops, Cellphones, or Kindles and I got the answer right!
So, what you're saying is that only people who use "MSIE" got the answer right and those who don't use "MSIE" got the answer wrong? How do you know who uses "MSIE" and who doesn't? :/
Jenna Fidler
Kiwi not kiwis. The Maori language does not have an S.
Burnerash
Come on! is this a 5 year old's start of year quiz?
Margaret Elsden
No Stevan Overby, it’s not. It comes from Asia and is actually the Chinese Gooseberry. Was nicknamed kiwifruit.
Chris Brown
I know that. I am an Aotearoan.
Armadillo
Robert Swanson, I never knew it was the name of a bird as well as a fruit.
William Aldrich
I do not know why but i was thinking the fruit even though there was a picture
Player mele fataaikitama
robert karel, hello no that was an apple
Micheline Ratcliffe
I'm from Australia so the correct response was not an issue. The use of the "nickname" Kiwi for the fruit and the residents is simply a derivative of the bird name Kiwi.
mike heath
Steve McVey,
Kiwi is a fruit. 🙃
mamaduck50
I thought they asking about the fruit. Bull**** question😠
Nathan
Easy one being a rugby player! That’s for sure.. there is a rugby wear brand, Canterbury of New Zealand, which the logo is 3 kiwis. Also the people of New Zealand are often called kiwis
teresab
New Zealand rebranded the Chinese gooseberry to kiwifruit so that the world could identify the fruit with NZ, some of the population don't mind being called kiwis. It always seemed strange to want to be associated with such a curious flightless bird. The problem with the kiwifruit was that NZ in its usual wisdom exported the kiwi vines to other countries and showed them how to grow the fruit, cutting off or minimising yet another source of export dollars. Back to the kiwi (bird), how long does the baby kiwi take to hatch out of its shell once the egg is laid?
namiphi
No never seen one
gkelly
😆 😆 LOL!!! I thought it/they were referring to the fruit, which was brought to New Zealand from China and the turn of the(previous)century. I thought the answer was wrong BC while the fruit is from New Zealand it originated in China. All along they meant the animal. SO GLAD they're FROM New Zealand, TOO!!☺
valanion
All I can say is its good to be a kiwi
Scott
I'm a Kiwi. Live in Mt. Maunganui in the heart of Kiwi country, The Bay of Plenty. Love it here!