Abstract
The severe risk that kiwis could become extinct necessitates utmost care of birds that are in captivity. Furthermore, captive rearing and release into the wild is a management technique for kiwi conservation on the three major islands of New Zealand. Special attention has to be given to nutrition of these birds in captivity. The ultimate goal is release into a different ecosystem, where birds have to cope with completely different kinds of foods than those commonly fed in the captive setting. According to limited available literature on the digestive system and natural diet, the kiwi could be classified as an obligate insectivore. The protein and amino acid requirements of the kiwi could be determined experimentally from growth data available for kiwis, and assumptions derived with other closely related species. However, to fulfil these requirements with feed ingredients available in captive institutions, knowledge on the digestive capacity and flexibility of the kiwi's digestive tract is needed.
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