Rare white kiwi that inspired books and toys dies after surgery

Manukura, a rare white kiwi chick, seen in June 2011

Credit: Getty Images AsiaPac 

A New Zealand wildlife centre is in mourning after the death of a rare white kiwi.

Manukura, the female North Island Brown Kiwi, which hatched in 2011 and gained national fame for her white feathers, died following surgery on Sunday.

Emily Court, Pūkaha wildlife centre’s general manager, told New Zealand news website Stuff that staff noticed Manukura had not been eating and was losing weight in early December.

The kiwi was taken to Wildbase Hospital in Palmerston North and vets operated to remove an infertile egg that had become stuck inside her.

Manukura’s white feathers were produced by a partial loss of skin pigmentation – known as leucism, rather than albinism.

Ten years ago, a population of 30 North Island Brown Kiwi were moved from Te Hauturu-o-To Little Barrier Island to top up the wild population at Pūkaha, where a breeding pair, neither of which were white, carried the recessive gene that resulted in Manukura’s rare white feathers.

Manukura was thought to be the first white chick born in captivity

Credit: Getty Images AsiaPac 

Ms Court told Stuff that the day Manukura died was one of the saddest days the wildlife centre had ever experienced.

“Manukura is very much a part of the Pūkaha family, and we have always felt so blessed to have Manukura to help us to tell Aotearoa’s conservation story,” she said.

Manukura became an ambassador for the wildlife centre, conservation and tourism in the Wairarapa region.

Her popularity inspired soft toys, children’s books, and other memorabilia.

Three white kiwi were hatched at Pūkaha during the 2011-2012 breeding season. The arrival of Manukura, the first of the trio, was hailed as a blessing by the local iwi (nation), Rangitāne o Wairarapa, who saw her as a unifying symbol, and a signal to help guide their future relationship with Pūkaha.

Tribal elders gave her with her name Manukura, which means “of chiefly status”.

There are records of white kiwi in the wild in New Zealand, but they are rare.