THREE things we did not know about New Zealand:There are way more sheep than people…New Zealand is a sparsely populated country. Geographically it’s close in size to the UK, but its population is only 4.47 million (compared to the UK’s 64 million). And what’s more – sheep far outnumber people: There are about six sheep for every human in New Zealand!
It used to be home to a monstrously big bird. Although extinct, giant Moa birds were native to New Zealand – they were 3.6 meters tall and weighed a whopping 230kg and looked a little like an ostrich.
It is the land of kiwis (people, birds and fruit). Why do people throw around the word “kiwi” when talking about New Zealand? The kiwi was first just the name for a flightless bird native to the country and became the name for the fruit when some marketing folks realized its original name – Chinese gooseberry – wasn’t going to sell and so named it after the bird. It’s also become a slang term for New Zealanders.
