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
Mallee emu-wren their tails to the feathers of an emu. The mallee emu-wren is an average from head to tail. The adult male mallee emu-wren has olive-brown upperparts with dark streaks, and a pale rufous unstreaked crown, and grey-brown wings. It has a sky blue throat, upper chest, lores and ear coverts. The lores and ear coverts are streaked with black, and there is white streaking under the eye. Though still long, the tail is not as long as in other emu-wrens, and is composed of six filamentous feathers, the central two of which are longer than the lateral ones. The underparts