Dr Hugh Robertson (Department of Conservation) and Dr John McLennan (Landcare Research) offer these insights...

Myth 1: Kiwi use their beaks to fight, like swords

To use its beak to fight would be like you head-butting someone with your nose. Dumb.  The kiwi’s nose is a finely tuned appendage, capable of detecting a few parts per million of scent. In captivity they will often reject food presented by someone other than their usual keeper.

When threatened, the kiwi snaps its beak shut, although this is not likely to deter a predator.   

Its main weapons are its powerful legs and sharp claws.  And they are effective.  Kiwi’s territorial fights, a jump and slash affair, can inflict fatal injuries

The photograph above shows one territorial kiwi taking on an intruder by using its beak to hold on, in order to attack more effectively with its feet.
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Myth 2: Kiwi are cute, gentle creatures

Kiwi are super-strong, and often extremely bad-tempered. The adults can look after themselves using their razor-sharp claws as weapons. A couple of slashes can quickly draw blood, as conservation workers often find when they put their hands down kiwi burrows.

Because they are so aggressive, Department of Conservation staff can attract them simply by imitating their call. Incensed that another kiwi is on their turf, the response can be instant and dramatic. John McLennan (Landcare Research) describes what happens when he imitates the call:

"It's amazing to hear them coming to kick the intruder out. They sound like a deer charging, almost exploding, through the dark. Standing there, it's quite intimidating - even for us. I guess it's part of the threat display."

"Pete", a Great Spotted Kiwi in North Westland, is the most aggressive McLennan has crossed paths with.   "We've just got to walk into his territory and he comes catapulting in for a hit-and-run. He belts you in the leg and then runs off into the undergrowth. I think he views us as super-big kiwi. He's probably given some trampers a hell-of-a-scare."
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Myth 3: Kiwi are a bit thick and stupid

According to Conservation Officers who work with kiwi, the birds are capable of learning quickly and alter their behaviour in the light of experience.

For example, kiwi do not like people much. If they hear someone coming during the day, they will often break the "nocturnal" rule and shoot through.

And kiwi have proven that ‘once caught, twice shy’.  Once a bird has been tricked into capture with tapes or whistles, it is hard to fool a second time – a kiwi ‘remembers’ its bad experience for at least five years.  Dr Robertson says birds will approach the scene and challenge with calls, then circle the tape machine at a distance, as if they are trying to get down wind of the intruder to check it is a real kiwi.
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Myth 4: Kiwi are slow movers

If you visit the nocturnal house at a zoo you are likely to glimpse a shadowy, slow, almost loping form.

However, out in the wild, kiwi are big travellers, superbly adapted to their natural habitat, agile and quick-moving.  A bird can cover his or her territory - possibly the size of 60 football fields - in a single night. And not all the ground is flat, like a football field.  A typical territory can take in three valley systems, streams, and all sorts of obstacles.  If alarmed, kiwi can run as fast as a person.
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Myth 5: Kiwi are half-blind

Kiwi probably got a reputation for being half-blind because they are nocturnal animals with small eyes.  In fact, as Conservation Officers who sometimes have to catch kiwi can testify, these birds can run very fast, swerve round trees and expertly navigate the undergrowth. Similarly they are unfazed by daylight. 
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Myth 6: Kiwi lay the biggest egg in the world, in proportion to their body size

Although the female kiwi undoubtedly has to cope with a monstrous egg that equals 15 - 20 per cent of her body mass, she is not the most heavily burdened female in the bird world. Small seabirds, such as storm petrels, have proportionately bigger eggs – up to 30 per cent of their weight – and they have to fly with it on board. 
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