ABSTRACT
In four eggs and four chicks of the North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli) we measured pre- and postnatal oxygen consumption rate (VO(2)) daily from day (d)-75 (prior to hatching) until d+25 (after hatching). The increase of embryonic VO(2) reaches a plateau phase between d-22 and d-5 (0.113 ml O(2)/g/h=59.6% of allometrically expected value of a typical 416-g egg). Mean total O(2) uptake per egg (43.01 l O(2)) corresponds to an energy turnover rate of 2.04 kJ/g during embryonic development. This is nearly identical to the expected value for all birds (2.00+/-0.8 kJ/g). Hence, the kiwi neither 'gained nor lost energy' (Calder, 1979.Biosci. 8, 461-467) by its extreme prolongation of incubation time; it is as efficient as other avian embryos. The kiwi embryo expends only approximately 17% (847 kJ) of the energy originally stored in the egg (4942 kJ). Forty-eight percent of the egg's initial yolk mass can be found as spare yolk in the hatchling and can serve as the chick's sole source of energy and substrate for tissue production for up to at least 17 days after hatching.
