Kiwi forego vision in the guidance of their nocturnal activities.

Abstract in brief

• The study suggests that in nocturnal, flightless birds like Kiwi, evolution has favored reduced reliance on vision and increased use of other senses, similar to nocturnal mammals that rely on olfactory and tactile cues to navigate forest floor habitats.
• This phenomenon is an example of convergent evolution, where both Kiwi and nocturnal mammals have independently adapted their sensory systems to efficiently navigate low-light forest environments, with Kiwi experiencing a kind of "regressive evolution" in their visual system due to the high costs and limited benefits of low-light vision.]