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 cormorant within the species range, and the prevention of fishing with nets in the bird's foraging range. Flightless cormorant The flightless cormorant ("Phalacrocorax harrisi"), also known as the Galapagos cormorant, is a cormorant native to the Galapagos Islands, and an example of the highly unusual fauna there. It is unique in that it is the only cormorant that has lost the ability to fly. Once it was placed in its own genus, "Nannopterum" or "Compsohalieus", although current taxonomy places it in the genus with most of the other cormorants, "Phalacrocorax". Like all cormorants, this bird has webbed feet and powerful legs