--- title: New Zealand Kiwi Is Not From Australia, Scientists Find description: New research published Thursday in the journal Science found that the kiwi's origins aren't from Australia as once thought. canonical: https://time.com/109432/new-zealand-kiwi-origins/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-22T17:49:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:00:20.233Z article:section: Science og:title: New Zealand Kiwi Is Not From Australia, Scientists Find og:description: New research published Thursday in the journal Science found that the kiwi's origins aren't from Australia as once thought. og:url: https://time.com/109432/new-zealand-kiwi-origins/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfaa8c9453f68bfbe/6986909bcd68483217094c94/146543407.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A keeper holds in his hands two Kiwi chi og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Zealand Kiwi Is Not From Australia, Scientists Find twitter:description: New research published Thursday in the journal Science found that the kiwi's origins aren't from Australia as once thought. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfaa8c9453f68bfbe/6986909bcd68483217094c94/146543407.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Kiwi, New Zealand's National Bird, Isn't From Australia After All  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent May 22, 2014 5:49 PM CUT  A keeper holds in his hands two Kiwi chicks at the zoo on June 19, 2012 in Berlin. A keeper holds in his hands two Kiwi chicks at the zoo on June 19, 2012 in Berlin.Johannes Eisele—AFP/Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent May 22, 2014 5:49 PM CUT The kiwi, a bird endemic to New Zealand, was long believed to be an Australian import. However, new research published Thursday in the journal _Science_ found that the kiwi’s origins aren’t so simple. Researchers at the University of Adelaide’s Australian Centre for Ancient DNA discovered that the kiwi is not closely related to Australia’s Emu as previously thought. Rather, its closest relative is the Madagascan elephant bird. DNA extracted from the bones of two elephant birds at the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, revealed a genetic connection between the elephant bird and the kiwi despite their physical and geographical dissimilarities. Scientists say that the connection between the two also means that the kiwi, now a flightless bird, once took to the skies. “This result was about as unexpected as you could get,” Kieren Mitchell, PhD candidate with ACAD, said in a statement. “New Zealand and Madagascar were only ever distantly physically joined via Antarctica and Australia, so this result shows the ratites (a group of flightless birds) must have dispersed around the world by flight.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/109432/new-zealand-kiwi-origins/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/109432/new-zealand-kiwi-origins/"},"headline":"The Kiwi, New Zealand's National Bird, Isn't From Australia After All","datePublished":"2014-05-22T17:49:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:00:20.233Z","description":"The kiwi is not related to the emu, as scientists originally believed","url":"https://time.com/109432/new-zealand-kiwi-origins/","keywords":["animals","New Zealand"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfaa8c9453f68bfbe/6986909bcd68483217094c94/146543407.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfaa8c9453f68bfbe/6986909bcd68483217094c94/146543407.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A keeper holds in his hands two Kiwi chi","caption":"A keeper holds in his hands two Kiwi chi","creditText":"Johannes Eisele—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/109432/new-zealand-kiwi-origins/","name":"The Kiwi, New Zealand's National Bird, Isn't From Australia After All"}}]}] ```