スミソニアン国立動物園のインスタグラム(smithsonianzoo) - 3月8日 02時59分

?A female brown kiwi chick hatched at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) Feb. 3 and is thriving after initially requiring veterinary care. The chick had difficulty hatching, and her legs appeared to be weak.

Keepers had been monitoring the egg since placing it in an incubator, which was calibrated to the ideal heat and humidity for a developing kiwi egg, several weeks earlier. They had seen the shell of the egg begin to break, which is called “externally pipping,” and signals that the chick inside would soon hatch. However, the chick remained in the egg for longer than normal.

The chick was struggling to kick her way out of the egg. Kiwi kick their way out of their shells with their feet. Keepers were monitoring the chick via a camera in her incubator, but after several hours of trying to get out of her egg they intervened. The membranes inside the egg had dried out since the egg had first pipped, holding the shell of the egg together even as the chick inside created more and more cracks in it. Keepers gently helped the chick by making a small cut in the egg where it had pipped. Soon after, she finally emerged out of the egg.
However, keepers noticed that the chick was having trouble standing and walking 24 hours after she had hatched—which is unusual for a kiwi chick and an indication that she required veterinary care.

Veterinarians decided the best course of action was to provide laser therapy to increase the strength in the chick’s legs and ease any inflammation she was experiencing. She received laser therapy for 60 to 90 seconds every day, which was gradually reduced to every other day, for a total of three weeks of therapy. The therapy was painless, non-invasive and performed while the chick was sitting comfortably on a keeper’s arm. The kiwi chick responded well and is developing normally! #WeSaveSpecies

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