Cook Islands has issued commemorative silver dollars under its own authority since the 1970s, a function of its status as a self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand. The kiwi, as New Zealand's most recognizable endemic bird, appears on Cook Islands issues with some regularity — a deliberate nod to the geographic and political relationship between the two jurisdictions rather than any native fauna of the Cook Islands themselves.
Cook Islands has issued commemorative silver dollars under its own authority since the 1970s, a function of its status as a self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand. The kiwi, as New Zealand's most recognizable endemic bird, appears on Cook Islands issues with some regularity — a deliberate nod to the geographic and political relationship between the two jurisdictions rather than any native fauna of the Cook Islands themselves.