The footage shot in the nocturnal house shows a female North Island brown kiwi (Apterix mantelli), but with a white colour. She is not an albino, she is white because both her parents carry the rare recessive gene that results in reduced pigmentation of the feathers making them white – this is known as leucism. This is quite an extraordinary which makes this kiwi a special attraction. She was nearly 4 years old when I visited the wildlife centre. In the wild she would easily be noticed by predators in her white plumage at night, and as a nocturnal species she would never had reached this age without the regular brown camouflage colour.