Fauna of Australia in Australia, feeding on sea grass in coastal areas. The destruction of sea grass beds is a threat to the survival of this species. Eleven species of seal—family Pinnipedia—live off the southern coast. Australia and its territories are home to around 800 species of bird; 45% of these are endemic to Australia. The fossil record of birds in Australia is patchy; however, there are records of the ancestors of contemporary species as early as the Late Oligocene. Birds with a Gondwanan history include the flightless ratites (the emu and southern cassowary), megapodes (the malleefowl and Australian brush-turkey), and a huge
Emu War a six-month period in 1934. By December 1932, word of the Emu War had spread, reaching the United Kingdom. Some conservationists there protested the cull as "extermination of the rare emu". Dominic Serventy and Hubert Whittel, the eminent Australian ornithologists, described the 'war' as "an attempt at the mass destruction of the birds". Throughout 1930 and onward, exclusion barrier fencing became a popular means of keeping emu out of agricultural areas (in addition to other vermin such as dingoes and rabbits). Emu War The Emu War, also known as the Great Emu War, was a nuisance wildlife management military operation