According to a statement from Forest & Bird, 1,500 fraudulent votes were found for another bird candidate, the kiwi pukupuku/little-spotted kiwi, and were removed from the competition. The brown kiwi is a little smaller and a little redder. said Laura Keown spokesperson for Bird of the Year. The main threat of the kiwi birds are predators. Little spotted kiwi This species is small in size at 1.3 kg weight and 9.8 inches in height. Little Spotted Kiwi - Apteryx owenii. They are also related to emus and cassowaries of Australia, and the extinct moa of New Zealand. Once the suspicious votes were discounted, the fat, flightless Kakapo emerged victorious. Adults over a year old are generally strong enough to fight off predators in the wild, with a strong kick. 'It's lucky we spotted this little kiwi trying to sneak in an extra 1500 votes under the cover of darkness!' In seven words or fewer, please write a headline about this case of avian election … In accordance with the threat ranking in the New Zealand Threat Classification System, the brown kiwi, great spotted kiwi, and tokoeka (found in the Fiordland and Stewart Islands) are “nationally vulnerable”, while the little spotted kiwi is “at risk (recovering)”. The threats to the kiwi include habitat modification, fragmentation, declining population and predators (mainly stoats, possums, and rats). This week's question: New Zealand's Bird of the Year contest was shaken by allegations of election rigging after judges discovered that 1,500 votes had been cast for Little Spotted Kiwi from a single IP address. The national icon, we have five species of this unusual flightless bird. Given the wide geographic spread of these populations the species is under no immediate threat, but populations, and the predator free status of the islands on which they live, still require monitoring. Kiwi are ratites. The smallest kiwi bird is the Little Spotted Kiwi with a height of up to 45 centimeters and weight of 2 kilograms while the largest kiwi is the Great Spotted Kiwi that grows to a height of 50 centimeters and can weigh up to 3.5 kilograms. Criteria: B1ab(iii,v); D1+2 Click here for more information about the Red List categories and criteria Justification of Red List category This species is listed as Near Threatened owing to the success of intensive conservation intervention which has established populations on eight islands and two mainland sites, in which numbers continue to increase or remain stable. The closest relatives to kiwi today is the elephant bird from Madagascar. English name: Little Spotted Kiwi Māori name: Kiwi pukupuku Scientific name: Apteryx owenii NZ Status: Endemic (only found in NZ) Conservation Status (NZTCS): At Risk / Recovering Found: Protected offshore islands, ZEALANDIA Threats: Predation from dogs, cats, and mustelids Did you know? However, chicks […] The great spotted, for example, is the largest of the three and has gray-brown feathers. The little spotted kiwi was once widespread on the North and South Islands that make up the mainland of New Zealand, but introduced predators such as cats, dogs and stoats, a … And the little spotted is the pipsqueak of the bunch. There are five species of kiwi: Brown kiwi; Great spotted kiwi/roroa; Little spotted kiwi; Rowi; Tokoeka; Kiwi … Each species has a different threat ranking, ranging from nationally endangered (the southern brown kiwi) to recovering (the little spotted kiwi).