Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 21 hours ago
We’re spying on this beautiful brown kiwi…for science!
In what could be a world-first, we’ve placed night-vision cameras inside nest boxes at the Zoo to better understand how kiwi incubate their eggs and improve on current conservation knowledge.
Our curator of birds, Dr. Juan Cornejo, has been spearheading research into the natural incubation parameters of kiwi eggs since 2023. To do so, he developed a clever piece of technology – a 3D-printed ‘smart egg’ with sensors!
These ‘smart eggs’ are placed under nesting birds to capture up to date scientific data. Current artificial incubation practices don’t allow conservationists to successfully incubate kiwi eggs that are collected early on in their development. The information obtained in this study aims to help improve on these techniques.
The smart egg data reveals the pattern of heat inside the egg, and this shows us when the kiwi is sitting or leaves the nest to feed at night. By combining this with direct observations of the bird’s behaviours we are now able to get a full picture of what goes on inside the nest and understand how activities like working on the nest or preening can affect incubation parameters.
Night vision cameras are perfect for this task as birds cannot see infra-red light, so this addition does not disturb them. While you can see this kiwi perfectly well, bear in mind that he is in complete darkness!
Another amazing finding is how female kiwi contribute to egg incubation! There was anecdotal evidence that female North Island brown kiwi play a role in incubating eggs, but we’ve now been able to document it.
Head to aucklandzoo.co.nz/news to learn more.
We’re spying on this beautiful brown kiwi…for science!
In what could be a world-first, we’ve placed night-vision cameras inside nest boxes at the Zoo to better understand how kiwi incubate their eggs and improve on current conservation knowledge.
Our curator of birds, Dr. Juan Cornejo, has been spearheading research into the natural incubation parameters of kiwi eggs since 2023. To do so, he developed a clever piece of technology – a 3D-printed ‘smart egg’ with sensors!
These ‘smart eggs’ are placed under nesting birds to capture up to date scientific data. Current artificial incubation practices don’t allow conservationists to successfully incubate kiwi eggs that are collected early on in their development. The information obtained in this study aims to help improve on these techniques.
The smart egg data reveals the pattern of heat inside the egg, and this shows us when the kiwi is sitting or leaves the nest to feed at night. By combining this with direct observations of the bird’s behaviours we are now able to get a full picture of what goes on inside the nest and understand how activities like working on the nest or preening can affect incubation parameters.
Night vision cameras are perfect for this task as birds cannot see infra-red light, so this addition does not disturb them. While you can see this kiwi perfectly well, bear in mind that he is in complete darkness!
Another amazing finding is how female kiwi contribute to egg incubation! There was anecdotal evidence that female North Island brown kiwi play a role in incubating eggs, but we’ve now been able to document it.
Head to aucklandzoo.co.nz/news to learn more.
