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The rowi (Apteryx rowi) is currently the rarest of New Zealand’s five kiwi species.
Rowi evolved amidst Aotearoa’s dramatic glacial history, once extending up the South Island’s West Coast and into the lower North Island. They provided an important food source for Māori, who also used the birds’ bones for needlework and their soft feathers were prized for weaving into kākahu (cloaks) that were reserved for ariki (high ranking chiefs).
Rowi were almost driven to extinction by introduced predators. In the mid-1990s, the Department of Conservation and local iwi, Kāti Māhaki, realised rowi were in trouble. Predation (mainly by stoats) had reduced the population to fewer than 200 birds surviving in South Westland’s Ōkārito Forest. An intensive conservation effort utilising Operation Nest Egg (ONE™) has returned this national taonga (treasure) back from the brink. ONE™ takes eggs from the wild and raises chicks in a predator-free environment. When the chicks reach a ‘stoat-proof’ weight (considered one kilogram) they are returned to the mainland forests of South Westland.