One leg too many

Press, 13 April 1989, Page 5

One leg too many

PA Auckland A three-legged kiwi called Jake who walks like a duck has conservation officers and scientists scratching their heads, the “New Zealand Herald” reported yesterday. A passer-by rescued the one-year-old great spotted kiwi from a drain in the Buller Gorge on the West Coast four days ago. The bird is now recovering under the care of Conservation Department staff in Westport. A Westport conservation officer, Mr Jim Robertson, said on Tuesday the bird had trouble walking, but was otherwise all right. “It walks more like a duck. Its normal legs are slightly different. The other leg is right at the back and is turned round the wrong way facing backwards.” While it seemed the rear leg could move, it was not used by the bird. Mr Robertson said he had never seen a three-legged kiwi before. Conservation staff have named the bird Jake, after the Rolf Harris character “Jake the Peg,” who also had an extra leg. Mr Robertson said the kiwi was looking perky after its ordeal, but he did not favour letting it back into the wild where its walking difficulty might make it easy prey.

A spokesman for the department’s regional office in Hokitika, Gideon Anderson, said Jake would be taken to Hokitika and given a thorough examination. The kiwi might then undergo surgery to have the troublesome third leg removed. A possible explanation for Jake’s condition has come from a development biologist at Auckland University’s zoology department. Dr Clive Evans said either the embryo had been damaged while inside the eggshell, or there had been a mutation of the bird’s genes. Although it was unlikely, Jake might be able to produce further three-legged offspring, he said. Although Jake’s short rear leg did not touch the ground when the bird walked, Dr Evans said it would still have been a problem for the kiwi and it was remarkable it had survived. “It is remarkable because with a kiwi its legs are very important. With three legs it is going to be a hindrance with feeding and for running away from predators.” The National Museum in Wellington reports only one other finding of a mutated kiwi, a one-month-old North Island brown kiwi discovered in 1963.