Bluff Downs Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)
Lived: 4 million years ago (early Pliocene)
Size: Height: 1.2m tall
Description: The Bluff Downs Flamingo strode slowly through shallow waters, seeking tiny invertebrates to eat. Although it died out in Australia, it is considered to belong to the same species as the Greater Flamingo of Africa and South America.
Fossils: A foot bone of the Bluff Downs Flamingo was found in 1977 at Bluff Downs Station in north-eastern Queensland.
Did you know?: Although there are no flamingos now living in Australia, at least six fossil species are known.
