#1 The Little Kiwi

My first Natural wonder is a national icon and native to New Zealand, the Kiwi Bird.

Photo taken by Chris McLennan Photography

The Kiwi bird is quite an amazing species, being able to lay the largest egg relative to their size of any species of bird in the world. That goes to show, how dedicated these birds are if their mother's are prepared to lay an egg, half their size, as seen in the photo below.

Source: geophagus

Recently (December 2011 recently), a second white Kiwi chick was born at the Pukaha Mount Bruce wildlife centre in New Zealand. In the wild, white Kiwis would not be able to survive as their white colour would make them vulnerable to predators. However, such rare Kiwis will become adored by the world as they are protected in captivity.

Source: Tourism New Zealand

Kiwis are an endangered species with their homes being destroyed by deforestation and being hunted by introduced predators such as dogs and cats.

If you want to help protect these cute and delicate birds, you can visit conservation parks such as the Kiwi Birdlife Park located in New Zealand or you can donate to various wildlife funds or adopt kiwis at zoos and this money goes towards the care of kiwis in the wild or in captivity.

On another note. I was looking up videos of turtles on the National Geographic site and I watched this awesome video. It has amazing images of various animals and also has a back message. Why don't you have a watch for yourself? (I know the preview image is a bit scary but believe me, it's good).

Enjoy.