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
Flightless fruit fly Flightless fruit fly Flightless fruit flies (Order Diptera) encompasses a variety of different species of fly, such as "Drosophila melanogaster", "Bactrocera cucurbitae", "Bactrocera dorsalis", and "Drosophila hydei", with genetic mutations that cause them to be flightless. These genetic mutations may have different results such as the development of muscles that cannot support flight or even result in the lack of wings entirely. Flightless fly models have been especially useful for the study of human neuromuscular diseases such as spinal muscular atrophy, spinobulbar muscular atrophy, myotonic dystrophy, dystrophinopathies and other inherited neuromuscular diseases. Other applications of flightless flies include using them