Wellington - An expectant silence hangs over the Pukaha bird sanctuary as hundreds of spectators await a glimpse of a rare white kiwi, a bird held sacred by New Zealand's indigenous Maori people.
A collective sigh follows his unveiling to the crowd, although this appears to be prompted more by the chick's cute appearance than any mystical qualities.
Resembling a fluffy white tennis ball with an elongated beak and stout, three-toed feet, the white kiwi has become a symbol of New Zealand's efforts to prevent its emblematic national bird from becoming extinct.
The male chick, named Manukura -- meaning “of chiefly status” in Maori -- hatched on May 1 at the sanctuary north of Wellington, becoming the first white kiwi ever born in captivity.
Pukaha's field centre manager Kathy Houkamau said the chick had sparked unprecedented interest in the programme to save the flightless bird species, which is threatened by introduced predators such as stoats, rats and ferrets.
“Manukura is proving to be a strong advocate for kiwi because he's so rare and people are really interested in him, he's drawing people to Pukaha and also to the species generally,” she said.
“People are learning more about kiwi and threats to kiwi.”
The Department of Conservation, which runs the sanctuary, estimates there are fewer than 70,000 left in New Zealand, and several sub-species are listed as critically endangered.
Kiwis are normally brown but birds in the gene pool that Manukura came from have white flecks in their plumage, giving rise to the occasional all-white specimen.
“He's not albino, he's got a recessive gene that makes him completely white,” sanctuary ranger Tom Studholme said.
“We don't know when they're going to appear, we could get another next year or there might not be another white kiwi for 50, 100 years.”
Studholme said Manukura's appearance was a cause for celebration among Maori, who traditionally see a white kiwi as a symbol of new beginnings and renewal.
“Culturally, it meant a lot for the local iwi (tribe),” he said, explaining that tribal elders held a ceremony to bless the bird shortly after its birth. - AFP