Almost 13 years since Steve Irwin’s untimely death, son Robert Irwin is keeping his dad’s legacy well and truly alive.
15-year-old Robert is making a name for himself as a wildlife photographer, often sharing remarkable shots of anything from snakes to rhinos, sea turtles to giraffes on social media.
He also follows in his dad’s footsteps by often stopping by the Australia Zoo, working with the animals and entertaining the visitors.
His latest post is no different, honouring his late father by recreating an iconic shot of Steve by posing in the same place, and feeding the same crocodile – Murray – that his dad did 15 years ago.
Writing on social media, Robert said:
Dad and me feeding Murray… same place, same croc – two photos 15 years apart
Check it out:
Steve Irwin, known as The Crocodile Hunter, died in 2006, aged 44, after a stingray struck him in the chest during the filming of a documentary.
Robert, along with his older sister Bindi and mum Terri, have kept Steve’s legacy alive ever since, caring for hundreds of animals at the Australia Zoo and appearing in their own show, called Crikey! It’s the Irwins.
Robert has become an award-winning wildlife photographer in his own right, recently being highly commended at Britain’s prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
The photo which caught the judges’ eyes was of a hand-sized huntsman spider grappling with a desert tree frog. Titled ‘The Catch’, the dark image shows the spider clinging on to its meal.
Speaking about how he captured the image, Robert said:
I was in a really remote swamp in Northern Queensland. I was photographing a phenomenon where this one water hole every night would explode with frogs. There would be so many amphibians, and all of the predators would come in to eat these frogs.
So it was mostly snakes and reptiles that I was photographing, and I spent about a month to actually get this shot.
The spider was obviously specialising in taking advantage of this influx of amphibians. I managed to get an amazing photo of him suspended from a branch, right at eye level. It was something I never thought I would experience.
It was a one-off experience, and planned for a month at the same time, so quite interesting.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.