instead proposed that the larger "male" was actually drawn after a captive Kangaroo Island emu, that the smaller, dark "female" is a captive King Island emu, that the scenario is fictitious, and the sexes of the birds indeterminable. They may instead only have been assumed to be male and female of the same subspecies due to their difference in size. A crooked claw on the "male" has also been interpreted as evidence that it had lived in captivity, and it may also indicate that the depicted specimen is identical to the Kangaroo Island emu skeleton in Paris, which has a deformed toe. The juvenile on the right may have been based on the Paris skin of an approximately five-month-old King Island emu specimen, which may, in turn, be the individual that died on board le Geographe during rough weather, and was presumably stuffed there by Lesueur himself. The chicks may instead simply have been based on those of mainland emus, as none are known to have been collected. References External links Species profile at the Australian Government's Department of Environment and Heritage website Species page at The Extinction Website Further reading Baxter, Chris (1995): An Annotated List of the Birds of Kangaroo Island (revised edition). South Australia National Parks and Wildlife Service. Garnett, S. (1993): Threatened and extinct birds of Australia. Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union Parker, Shane A. (1984): The extinct Kangaroo Island emu, a hitherto unrecognised species. Bull. Brit. Ornithol. Club 104: 19–22. Stattersfield, Alison J.; Crosby, Michael J.; Long, Adrian J. & Wege, David C. (1998) Endemic Bird Areas of the World: Priorities for Biodiversity Conservation. Dromaius Extinct birds of Australia Extinct fauna of South Australia Extinct flightless birds Fauna of Kangaroo Island Bird extinctions since 1500 Birds described in 1984 Species made extinct by human activities