Hands on Tauranga offers students stimulating and original learning opportunities with real museum objects that support the New Zealand curriculum at primary and secondary school level.
3D printed replica kiwi egg, printed to be the exact weight of an average kiwi egg.
This kiwi egg is the exact size and shape of an egg in the Tauranga Heritage Collection, found at Waikaremoana in 1956.
Click here to see the actual egg > http://view.taurangaheritagecollection.co.nz/objects/8741/kiwi-egg
Kiwi are found only in Aotearoa New Zealand. With tiny stubs for wings, these funny-looking birds can’t fly, and have other mammal-like features:
Like hedgehogs, they come out at night, sniffing out worms, insects and fruit.
The kiwi egg is huge in comparison to the size of a kiwi, and females lay only one at a time. Kiwi parents don’t look after their chicks once they have hatched. Predators such as stoats, dogs and cats often eat the baby birds.
Possums are also a predator of the kiwi. Although mainly plant eaters, possums will raid birds' nests and eat eggs and chicks. In particular, they prey on forest birds such as kiwi, kererū and kōkako.
There are five species of kiwi: North Island brown kiwi, tokoeka, rowi, great spotted kiwi and little spotted kiwi. Each species lives in a different area.
Māori called kiwi the hidden bird of Tāne, the god of the forest. Māori still treasure cloaks made with kiwi feathers.
The kiwi shape is easy to draw and has often been used in trademarks – for shoe polish, medicines, insurance and other products. It is also used on coins and stamps. In the early 1900s, cartoonists began to use the kiwi as a symbol for New Zealand. Then in the First World War, people began to call New Zealand soldiers Kiwis, and the name has stayed, even though most New Zealanders have never seen a real kiwi in the wild.
Look at this kiwi in the Tauranga Heritage Collection
http://view.taurangaheritagecollection.co.nz/objects/27720/north-island-brown-kiwi
Look at this kete woven from muka and kiwi feathers in the Tauranga Heritage Collection
http://view.taurangaheritagecollection.co.nz/objects/84/kete-kiwi-muka
Other resources related to the kiwi
> Ready to Read book 'How Kiwi Saved the Forest' retold by Andrē Ngāpō
> The picture book 'Manukura the White Kiwi' by Joy Cowley is a popular book for younger readers.
> YouTube videos showing a kiwi hatching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw3uIJtnQiY
date: Replica, created 2022
maximum dimension: 80mm (width), 128mm (length)
Weight: 360 grams
Manufacturer: This egg was designed and printed by Palmer Design in Tauriko, Tauranga. They have three of the largest heated camber FDM printers in New Zealand.
subject area: Social Science, Science
subject themes: Biology, Environment, Resources, Aotearoa, New Zealand, History, predators
handling collection number: HC263
Why not get your hands on... Possum HC229 http://www.handsontauranga.co.nz/hot-items/social-science/possum-hc229/
