I doubt I'll ever get to touch a kakapo, but we live in a part of New Zealand where kiwi releases happen every so often, and the kids (and bigger people) get to touch the kiwi as they are released into the wild(with radio trackers attached).

Their feathers are very unusual, not feathery at all but more like a fur in texture, quite unusual, and were also used to make cloaks etc.

We also have kiwi living in the surrounding bush and can hear their cries at night. A couple of years ago I found a kiwi egg lying on the ground, it from quite some time for my brain to register what a giant egg was doing. That resulted in quite a bit of administrative activity, eventually getting the egg to the department of conservation for them to analyze it's cause of demise.