The female lays one egg — sometimes two — inside a burrow, and the male takes over incubation duties. Kiwi eggs take about 75 to 85 days to hatch, much longer than most bird eggs.
When the young kiwi hatches, it uses an egg tooth to break through the shell, emerging as a tiny but fully feathered chick.
Unlike many other birds, kiwi chicks are independent soon after hatching. Adult kiwis do not feed their young, so kiwi chicks must find food on their own. This makes them vulnerable to predators, and in areas with introduced predators, survival rates are low.
