Description
Their adaptation to a terrestrial life is extensive: like all ratites they have no keel on the breastbone to anchor wing muscles, and barely any wings. The vestiges are so small that they are invisible under the bristly, hair-like, two-branched feathers of the kiwi. While birds generally have bones with hollow insides to minimise weight and make flight practicable, kiwi have marrow, in the style of mammals. With no constraints on weight due to flight requirements, some Brown Kiwi females carry and lay a single 450 g (16 oz) egg. Like most other ratites, they have no preen gland. Their bill is long, pliable, and sensitive to the touch, and their eyes have a reduced pecten. Their feathers lack barbules, and aftershafts, and they have large vibrissae around the gape. They have 13 flight feathers, no tail, just a small pygostyle. Finally, their gizzard is weak and their caecum is long and narrow.
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