What happens in the shadows: The unknown impact of visitors on captive North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx Mantelli) behaviour
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Authors
Anderson, M.
Connor, R.
Kemp, Caralyn
Connor, R.
Kemp, Caralyn
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Date
2025-11-06
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Conference Contribution - Oral Presentation
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Keyword
New Zealand
North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli)
kiwi
zoo visitors
zoos
behaviour change
human-bird interactions
animal welfare
North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli)
kiwi
zoo visitors
zoos
behaviour change
human-bird interactions
animal welfare
ANZSRC Field of Research Code (2020)
Citation
Anderson, M., Connor, R., & Kemp, C. (2025, November, 6). The unknown impact of visitors on captive North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx Mantelli) behaviour [Paper presentation]. Unitec School of Environmental and Animal Sciences Research Symposium 2025, Mount Albert, Auckland, New Zealand
https://hdl.handle.net/10652/7057
Abstract
Visitor presence can impact the behaviour of zoo animals, leading to welfare concerns. Studies show some mammals increase vigilance, stereotypies, and activity levels in the presence of high visitor numbers. In contrast to the large number of studies on mammals, birds have been under-represented in the literature on visitor-animal impacts. Our study investigated the behaviour of two indoor kiwis (Apteryx mantelli) housed at Wellington Zoo, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, during school holidays (SH) and school term (ST). While visitor numbers in the kiwi house were not counted, visitor numbers at the zoo were over double during SH than in ST. Three days from each period were pseudorandomly selected for analysis, with each kiwi’s behaviours continuously sampled for 1hr 3 times a day. Behaviour between treatments was largely consistent except abnormal behaviour was higher in SH (33.12%) compared to ST (15.11%) and the kiwis spent more time resting in ST (22.82%) than in SH (5.04%). Time of day also influenced behaviour, with the kiwis showing higher levels of foraging at 10am (54.54%) compared to 1pm (46.40%) and 4pm (43.13%). Repetitive behaviour was highest at 1pm (3.72%) compared to 10am (0.11%) and 4pm (1.33%). Unfortunately, the video cameras did not capture all the kiwis’ behaviour, as they spent 42% of the total observation time out of sight. Our study suggests that visitors do have an impact on kiwi behaviour, which supports the finding of a previous study. Along with differences in behavioural patterns across time of day, these results provide information to care staff when considering management decisions. To our knowledge, this is the first study of captive kiwi behaviour across different times of day. More research is needed on potential visitor impacts across time of day, school period, and sex/age of birds.
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