The Kiwi is not only a resident of New Zealand or a fruit. No the Kiwi is the only survivor of an ancient type of bird and family of the now extinct Moa. The Kiwi has been here for possibly 70 million years. It is flightless nocturnal bird so you have to go to a Zoo to see one. There are only around 70.000 left of them.
New Zealand is surrounded by water with a rich wildlife. One of the rarest penguin is to be seen on the coastline; The yellow eyed penguin. They swim up to 40 km from the shore and can dive to 120 metres deep. There are around 3000 left of them.
There are around 87 species of seabirds. The biggest one is the Royal Albatross. There is a big colony in Dunedin in the South Island.
There are 400 different kinds of fish as well as seals dolphins and whales (32 different species) . A common dolphin to be seen is the Hector's dolphin. When we went on a boat trip in Akaroa they followed us. They are quite amazing creatures.
In New Zealand are about 44 million sheep. That is about 11 sheep for each New Zealander. 90 % of sheep meat gets exported however. More than half of them are the Romney sheep which you can see on the left. It's strong wool is used for blankets and jerseys.
44 million sheep? Really does sound like Wales. The English include all Welshmen in the figure!!!
ReplyDeleteNice interesting facts about animals there.Here in india,Kiwi also used to be the name of a famous shoe polish.
ReplyDeletelovely animals!
ReplyDeletethanks for your visit, come again anytime!
:)) big kiss
Hi Marja! Wonderful photos and really interesting facts about the critters! I learned a lot of things I didn't know before -- thank you!
ReplyDelete:)
It makes me laugh to see you so passionately giving out wonderful facts about your adopted land.
ReplyDeleteIt also makes me homesick!
Thankyou Marja!
Those little lambs remind me of the orphans whose lives I saved when I was a kid, on my Uncle & Aunt's farm! I loved them.
Great Marja to give me this useful information. New Zealand is is beautiful country; I wished I could visit it. Some one told me that New Zealand is the world in one country and it seems it is correct. So many beautiful animals; oh I like this pictures.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is really wonderful