Sharon Booker, age 13, of Enid, Oklahoma, for her question:

How big is a kiwi's egg?

The shaggy little kiwi bird is about the same size as a farmyard chicken. But if our chickens laid kiwi sized eggs, one egg would make a snack for several people. Mrs. Kiwi weighs about four pounds. Her kiwi egg may weigh one pound and the little mother may lay two of them. A kiwi egg is plain white and about five inches long. For her small size, Mrs. Kiwi produces the biggest egg in the bird world.

There are three species of the kiwi family and all of them shelter in the scrubby brush land of New Zealand. They are rare, flightless birds covered with hairy feathers of brown or green. Most of their foraging is done at night. The odd bird shave nostrils in the ends of their long, curved beaks to sniff out juicy earthworms. The nest is an earthy hollow, often in the bank of a stream. Mr. Kiwi does all the babysitting and the eggs do not hatch for 75 to 80 days. The shaggy youngsters take three to four years to grow up and have families of their own.