2 Jun 2016

Kiwi chick hatches in USA

6:46 pm on 2 June 2016

America's Smithsonian National Zoo is releasing video of the first kiwi chick to hatch at its research site in Virginia.

Two kiwi, given as a gift from the New Zealand government in 2010, hatched the chick last month.

The parents were the first kiwi to leave New Zealand in 20 years.

The zoo reported the chick appeared to be healthy and doing well, and said keepers would not know the sex of the chick for several weeks.

Keepers at the zoo routinely collect fallen feathers from the kiwi and send them back to New Zealand.