Steve Irwin’s 14-year-old son has clearly inherited his dad’s passion for wildlife and nature, as he is now an award-winning photographer and zoologist.
Robert Irwin, since a very young age, has been interested in all things nature and has now taken those interests and made them into a career.
The teenager makes the most of his family’s links to zoos and wildlife to take awe-inspiring pictures of animals, travelling the world with his camera.
Robert not only posts pictures to his social media for his followers to see, but he has won awards for his many wildlife shots.
As reported by news.com.au, he was highly commended at Britain’s prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition this year, for his dark image of a hand-sized huntsman spider mauling a desert tree frog.
Taking to Instagram, he wrote:
So very proud for my photography to be highly commended in the world’s most prestigious wildlife photography competition, ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ here in London. Honoured to be part of the @nhm_wpy event, amongst some of the greatest photographers of all time.
And that’s not all. His website lists a whole host of other awards the teenager has won, including being crowned winner in the Glass House Mountains Rotary Calendar Photographic Competition 2017, and being highly honoured in Nature’s Best Windland Smith Rice International Photography Awards.
He was also the junior runner up in the 2016 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of Year competition, and a finalist in 2017 and 2018.
You only have to watch Robert speak to know that he has the same energy and enthusiasm that made his late dad, the Crocodile Hunter, so captivating.
Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in September, Robert exhibited a dwarf crocodile, armadillo, sloth and snake on stage and looked proud to do so.
The 14-year-old donned the classic khaki uniform and introduced a reluctant Jimmy Fallon and Kevin Hart to numerous wild animals.
He said he was the ‘luckiest kid alive’ to have been brought up at Australia Zoo and looked genuinely happy to be surrounded by all of his favourite wildlife.
You can watch him below:
His elder sister Bindi, who often appeared on the family’s famous TV show, was extremely supportive of her brother, saying ‘I am forever thankful to be your sister’.
Their sibling bond looks stronger than ever, with the tragic death of their Croc Hunter father Steve 12 years ago bringing their family closer than ever.
Bindi posted a side-by-side photo of Robert with Jimmy Fallon and Steve Irwin who appeared on The Tonight Show several times when it was presented by Jay Leno.
Robert’s 18-year-old sister wrote, alongside the picture:
Tears in my eyes. So proud of @robertirwinphotography ❤️ You are more and more like Dad every day. I’m forever thankful to be your sister.
Bindi also posted a photo asking her fans to wish her brother luck. She wrote ‘So proud. I love you, Robert!’.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).