This group is hunting for some of the world's rarest eggs. They are searching for the endangered kiwi（猕猴桃） birds of Aotearoa, New Zealand（西兰岛(丹麦最大的岛)） to steal their eggs and save them from predators（掠夺者）. Almost 95% of kiwi chicks are killed in the wild. If nothing is done, they will likely disappear. In New Zealand we call ourselves kiwi. It would be pretty bad if we let our national bird die.

  Thousands of people have joined a massive（厚重的） program to defend（保卫） the kiwi（猕猴桃） and kill their predators（掠夺者）. They're showing what it takes for a country to protect its natural treasures（财富）. In the lush（丰富的） hills of the Coromandel Peninsula（半岛） in New Zealand（西兰岛(丹麦最大的岛)）'s North Island, a remarkable（异常的） rescue（营救） mission（使命） is underway, giving signs of hope for an endangered national symbol, the kiwi. Few people ever see kiwi in the wild. Ronnie Kennedy has. The encounter（遭遇） motivated（激发） her to help save them from extinction.

  I have actually seen a kiwi on a visit to New Zealand some years ago. It was amazing to see that tiny little bird that is so vulnerable（易受攻击的）. And the group of kiwis, as in New Zealanders that I was with, they themselves had never seen the kiwi in the wild. It was a pretty amazing experience to have that opportunity. The retired school teacher is part of a project to stop the decline（ 消减） of the kiwi（猕猴桃） population. New Zealand was once home to some 12 million kiwi.

  Now there are less than 70,000. At least 20 are killed every week by invasive animals like stoats, ferrets and rats（老鼠）. To save the kiwi, these rescuers must become like the predators. They're going hunting for kiwi nests（巢） to steal their eggs and raise the chicks in safety. Diane Prince is trained to find the elusive（难懂的） birds. She calls this operation an egg lift.

  The kiwi are in decline in New Zealand because of introduced predators, namely（即） the stote. The stote was introduced to New Zealand to control the rabbits that were introduced to New Zealand, but the stotes, they just headed straight into our beautiful bush（灌木） and started killing our birds. They killed 95% of all kiwi chicks that hatch before they were like six months old. In New Zealand we call ourselves kiwi. It would be pretty bad if we let our national bird die out. Diane uses a radio antenna（天线） to pick up signals from a tag（标签） on a wild kiwi（猕猴桃）.

  We're getting closer to the nest. I don't know exactly how close. Like the dad will be asleep in there because it's daytime（日间） and I want him not to wake up. So it means we have to be really quiet and quite sneaky. She's found the kiwi burrow（洞穴） deep in a hillside. The father incubates（孵化） while the mother forages（搜寻粮草） for food.

  Diane doesn't want to disturb（打扰） the father in case he flees（ 逃走）, but he doesn't even stir（搅拌）. Their placid（平静的） nature makes（使） them vulnerable（易受攻击的） to predators（掠夺者）. Diane's finding it hard to reach deep into the burrow.