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
Southern emu-wren from Java. From there it was named by François Levaillant as the gauze-tailed warbler. This mistake was not picked up for another 55 years. Veillot defined the genus "Malurus" and placed the southern emu-wren within it, naming it as "Malurus palustris". The southern emu-wren derives its common name from its tail feathers, the loosely barbed nature of which resembles feathers of the emu, the irony being that the emu-wrens are among the smallest of Australian birds, while the emu is the largest. Up to eleven subspecies have been described, with eight currently recognised: The adult male has rusty-brown upperparts with