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Four different areas within the building are linked together to form a superb tourism attraction based completely on kiwi conservation.
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The working hatchery and nursery
Kiwi Encounter is a working hatchery and nursery where kiwi are hatched and nurtured as part of a New Zealand kiwi conservation programme called 'Operation Nest Egg'.
The husbandry area which incorporates the working hatchery and nursery, has been set up with big windows so visitors can clearly see into the areas where the work is being undertaken.
Within the incubation room and hatchery you are able to see the equipment working and if you are lucky a kiwi chick hatching or a young one recovering from the strenuous process of hatching.
The kitchen or 'Forest Floor Caf' is where the artifical diet for the young kiwi is prepared and you can see a variety of interesting food including worms and insects which go into the kiwi diet.
The nursery is a room filled with brooders some of which are made of perspex where the young chicks grow and in the early stages start on their new diet. They stay in the nursery until they are approx 400 gms in body size. At that stage they are moved to outdoor enclosures where they grow until they are 1kg and then they are released back into the wild to the area the egg was taken from.
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The nocturnal area
In this uniquely modern nocturnal area we have adult kiwi from Rainbow Springs which are part of a captive breeding and management programme in conjunction with the Department of Conservation. Within this area the kiwi enclosures are completely open with no partitions between the kiwi and our visitors. A special experience.
It is a special temperature controlled area with specialist lighting which mirrors ideal conditions for our North Island Brown Kiwi, - a cool moonlight night.
Kiwi are active at night (nocturnal). This is when they come out to forage for food. In order for you to see the kiwi, their cycle has been changed so they sleep during our night time and come out to feed during night time conditions (our day).
The outdoor enclosures
These are surrounded by high tech predator fencing and are home to some of our captive population.
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'Kiwi Culture' Exhibit
The fabulous static display at Kiwi Encounter provides a wealth of information and audio visual of kiwi from well known sources such as the widely recognized 'Wild South' documentaries. The beautifully crafted design of the displays provides an easy to read insight into kiwi along with wonderful graphic pictures of its origins, unique and endearing characteristics and how it lives.
Along side this are the constant reminders of the plight of kiwi in the wild and its predators - even man's best friend, the family dog.
This exhibit also depicts for us of how kiwi were first thought to 'look' by the early Europeans who arrived here and took skins back to the UK. How New Zealanders (homo sapiens) have become known world wide as 'kiwis', and the long history of products developed over the years, known as 'Kiwiana' - everything from Kiwi Nugget to Kiwi Fruit. |