11K Kiwi
11K Kiwi of the underworld, almost gone
The kiwi (Apteryx spp.), New Zealand's iconic flightless bird and national symbol, is a quirky evolutionary oddity that looks more like a furry mammal than a typical avian. This pear-shaped, shaggy creature—cloaked in hair-like feathers with a brownish-gray pelt—waddles on powerful legs with sharp claws, its long slender beak tipped with nostrils (unique among birds) for supreme nocturnal smelling. Wing stubs are vestigial and hidden, bones filled with marrow rather than hollow for flight—no need for lightness in a life spent grounded.
Native to New Zealand's forests, this solitary probe thrives in eternal night, digging complex burrows with camouflaged, leaf-plugged entrances for safety and nesting. A K-selected master of patience in stable habitats: females lay massive eggs (up to 25% of body weight—one of the largest ratios in nature), males incubate alone for months in hidden chambers, and pairs form lifelong monogamous bonds sealed by individual scent and shrill calls.
Yet this ancient relic faces modern tragedy: In the 1880s, stoats—r-selected proliferators introduced to control rabbits—became devastating invaders, flooding burrows to devour eggs and chicks. Conservation efforts rely on fragile traps and poisons, vulnerable to funding whims and reinvasion risks, leaving the kiwi's slow endurance on the brink.
I am the hidden one,
shaggy relic in earth's quiet rings
Pear-shaped wanderer,
fur-feathered cloak against the night
Wings reduced to stubs,
marrow heavy in my bones
No hollow debt to skies,
I never claimed
I probe the moist depths,
nostrils at beak's far tip
Sniffing trails of worms and whispered kin
through soil's blind veil
Whiskers brush the dark like forgotten questions
K-selected patience,
my only inheritance: slow and enduring
Few legacies I forge,
one orb a quarter of my weight
Compressed potential laid in tunnels carved with claw and will
Portals plugged with leaves,
chambers lined for vigil
Male's long fast over the burden,
bonds sealed by scent and call
Hear my voice from depths below
Pacific's triple star, shine low
Guard this hidden place I know
God defend New Zealand
Bless the burrows where I probe
From the shafts of strife and woe
Stoats that pierce my shadowed robe
God defend New Zealand
God defend New Zealand
Yet I know the surface folly,
borrowed from your histories
Eighteen-eighties' greed,
rabbits ravaging the green
Stoats unleashed—r-selected flood of kits, quick and merciless
They pierce my labyrinths,
devour the young before they probe.
Make-work shields in traps and poisoned bait.
Rise and fall on human whim and fate.
Defunded tomorrow,
the gates swing wide again
Reinvasion rides on every tide!
I'm extinct, but it hasn't happened yet.
Still probing shadows, drawing final breath.
Hear the stoats come scrambling through the dark
God defend my broken,
hidden heart.
Hear our whispers, we entreat
In the bonds of earth we meet
Save your humble symbol's retreat
God defend New Zealand
Hear our whispers, we entreat
In the bonds of earth we meet
Save your humble symbol's retreat
God defend New Zealand
I descend deeper, smelling my own slow fade in the earth.
Resilient probe in eternal night
Guardian, exile,
nearly gone.
This is the 11th animal in the memory music project.
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