Kiwis

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people…” [1.Peter 2:9]

One of the strangest creatures in the world is a flightless bird found only in New Zealand called the kiwi. The kiwi is the smallest member of the ratite family, which includes the ostrich and emus. It is unique in several respects. For one thing, it is the only bird in the world that has its nostrils at the end of its beak, which is about one third of the body length. The kiwi literally sniffs out its food by plunging its long beak below the surface. They also have excellent hearing that can even detect a worm wiggling underground.

Kiwis live as monogamous couples, with the bigger female dominating the male, who may do most of the incubating of the eggs. And the eggs are huge. The female kiwi has one of the largest egg-to-body weight ratios of any bird. The mature egg averages 20 percent of the female’s body weight, compared to two percent for an ostrich! A five-pound kiwi lays an egg that weighs just over a pound, a record in the bird kingdom. That would be like a 100-pound woman giving birth to a 20-pound baby. And the eggs take an exceedingly long time to hatch, up to 80 days, whereas a chicken egg only takes 21 days.

Kiwis are often confused for mammals. For one thing, it has wings but cannot fly. Its loose feathers have a hairlike appearance. Its long whiskers, plus the fact that it burrows in the ground, all contribute to the confusion. Some think it strange that New Zealanders like to call themselves “Kiwis” and have made the image of this bizarre bird a national emblem on their money, stamps, and coins.

The Bible teaches that Christians are called to be a peculiar people. But does that mean that we are commanded to be wacky or weird? Of course not. It means we are special to the Lord. “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine” (Exodus 19:5). To those outside the family circle we might seem strange, but to the Lord we are uniquely loved, just like the kiwi!