Photo by Mehgan Murphy, Smithsonian’s National ZooYesterday New Zealand Ambassador Roy Ferguson officially presented the National Zoo with a pair of rare kiwis. The handover took place in Front Royal, Va. at the Zoo’s Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. The Zoo will use these birds to establish a new breeding center.
The pair consists of a male named Tamatahi (ta-ma-TA-hee), meaning first-born son, and a female, Hinetu (hee-nay-TOO), meaning proud woman. Scientists at the Institute hope to become the first to successfully artificially inseminate a kiwi. Earlier this year, the Zoo welcomed two female kiwi chicks, the first born at the National Zoo. There are only nine female kiwis in the United States.
The kiwi, a species native to New Zealand and an important national symbol, is a brown flightless bird that mostly resembles a tribble with a long beak. Upon arrival in Front Royal, the birds were blessed in a traditional Maori ceremony. When the birds eventually pass away, their remains will be sent back to New Zealand for tribal burial.
All of this technology and tradition certainly one-ups the Highway 9 bird sanctuary, which features a bird feeder shaped like a diner.
