Avian wildlife diseases in New Zealand: current issues and achievements

Abstract

Extract Veterinary interest in New Zealand's indigenous bird species was evident in the first issue of the New Zealand Veterinary Journal when Roach (1952) outlined some of the unusual anatomical features of the kiwi (Apteryx spp), including observations on their behaviour, clinical signs, and population distribution. Some of these anatomical and behavioural adaptations have no doubt helped kiwi survive the human invasion that exterminated New Zealand's other ratites in the early part of the last millennium, but they have also left it prone to certain diseases. Smith et al (1973) were the first to report pneumoconiosis in the kiwi, which was presumably the result of the positioning of external nares at the end of a long beak, an adaptation useful for nocturnal feeding. Egg peritonitis is also now recognised as a common problem in kiwi both in captivity (Boardman 1995) and in the wild (Reed 1997b). The retention of a very large ratite egg in a bird which has adapted to be small enough to nest in long burrows is likely to be an important factor in the cause of this reproductive difficulty.