Why Kiwis Get Stroppy

Manukura the six-month-old white kiwi “appears to have regained her mojo after a heart scare during surgery to remove a stone from her gizzard.” “You try to grab her and she kind of karate chops you,” said veterinarian Lisa Argilla (pictured), at the Wellington Zoo, where Manukura is recuperating. “She growls and she grumbles and she’s getting really stroppy,” Argilla said. “So that’s great, that’s normal kiwi behaviour, and we love it when our patients do that.” It’s not unusual for birds to eat stones to help with digestion, but Manukura only managed to pass one of the stones naturally. When she was born on 1 May, Maori leaders took it as an omen. Her Maori name means “of chiefly status” and some believe her arrival heralds a new beginning.