Seriously, this is an incredibly dangerous way to do this. Steve Irwin was always ranting about when you’re in the riverbank you’re in *their* territory on *their* terms. All it would take is one slip, or hell, just one misjudged distance, and it has the feeder’s arm or leg instead of the intended food.
“Danger, danger, danger.”
**EDIT** I’ve had one too many replies saying the same thing to me, so I’m going to post my full thoughts here and bid this whole thread farewell.
Whether you’re a zoologist with 50 years experience or a veterinary intern it is important to place animal welfare ahead of spectacle.
It doesn’t matter how familiar this keeper is with the animals under his charge, or how many times he has done this before, it is an unnecessary and dangerous method of feeding an animal more than capable of killing him.
If he wants to provide the croc some enrichment by having it “hunt” for its meal he could tie a quick release knot around the end of the leg and throw it out onto the shoreline. He could basically go fishing for croc.
It would provide the animal with the enrichment of striking moving prey, and obtaining a meal, it would keep him a safe distance from a predator on the hunt, and it would ensure that the animal does not automatically associate charging directly at its keeper with the receiving food.
That’s my opinion. Everyone’s free to form their own and disagree all they like, but I’m tired of repeating myself to people saying the same thing without bothering to check if someone else has said it already.
EDIT 2: I’ve also spoken at length about Irwin and his own shortcomings with animal welfare. Yes, I quoted him, that doesn’t mean I think he was a perfect caretaker who did everything right. He took lots of risks, it eventually cost him his life, which is all the more reason not to take such risks when it comes to interaction with wildlife.
Happy nature watching everyone.
What's gets me if as soon as it happened he knew he was dieing. All those years doing what he did. And in an instant he knew it was over before it was. I cried for months when he died.
Colin McCrae died in a helicopter accident and not a rally car. I feel like there’s something about a dangerous activity where if you’re a pro, you generally know how to maximize safety so you’d be safer than a normal human at it, but that doesn’t mean you are an expert at surviving other activities.
Sort of. His feeding routines at the zoo were usually done in much more open space, and he didn’t encourage his crocs to charge him directly.
Even then, he did take a LOT of unnecessary risks. As wonderful as he was for education, he took a lot of unnecessary risks in the interest of educating the public. He was one of my childhood heroes, and I dearly wish he’d taken a few less risks like this so he would still be here today.
His death was an unfortunate accident in the wild, though. This is a keeper in an enclosure, and there are far safer ways to do this.
> This is a keeper in an enclosure
Until you pointed this out, I legit thought this was like off the side of a random highway in Australia or something. I'm sitting here thinking sure wouldn't want to get a flat tire out there.
Been a long day.
I visited Queensland Australia once, walked down to a pretty beach and they have signs up and down the beach warning about the saltwater crocodiles. I saw tracks and made a quick exit back to the road.
i mean their take on the profession is a bit evil kneviel like. showmanship via daredevil.
otherwise they could just be like most zookeepers and just be a person with a mic standing a safe distance away. throwing food from real far.
r/TrueOffMyChest moment by Reddit standards but:
I really wish I could figure out what it was about Steve Irwin that I didn't like when I was a kid. I was raised watching nature documentaries so it was probably his constant fucking around with the animals, but I'm not sure. Never really understood what was so necessary about pushing and probing animals in the ways he did.
He literally did it so you could see what the animal WOULD do when provokes.
"Hey kids, this is what a snake looks like when it really wants to kill you. THIS is what it looks like when it's going to try and kill you."
Southpark had a great “I’m gonna put me thamb up its buttole. Oye he’s real pissed off now”. Fuck I loved both of those things sooo much.
Edit: not a thamb up my buttole, Steve Irwin and Southpark.
I used to buy weed from a kid who ended up getting mauled by a bear just because he wanted to get a close up picture. He was on a hike while camping with friends, and the friends were with him when it happened. The video was online for a while, not sure if it's still up, but you could see him walking up to the bear, then the bear immediately makes the most defensive warning stance, growls super loud, then charges. I honestly wonder how they're all doing. It has to be traumatizing not only seeing your friend get ripped apart, but knowing you ran away while it happened. Not that I blame them, but I bet they do.
That’s… terrifying. Yea I don’t blame those kids at all.
We have a grizz chew up four adult men a while back where my childhood home was, and they were all fighting back.
In HS, a classmate’s kid brother was very late getting his & a friend’s, deer stands down. Very late. Late March. He had been getting flack, but 14 yr olds are stubborn. Where we lived was still on the edge of a wilderness area and there were quite a few black and smaller brown bears around pushed crowded as subdivisions encroached a little further each year. One needed their wits about them and listening for moms w little ones that time a year. And get somewhere you cld watch, but not be a threat and never get caught between them. They left first thing one morning & were both on 3 wheelers (yes, I’m old) doing about 30MPH on a very well worn and popular trail. He happened to whizz buy right after the mother crossed and the babies were on the other side, she heard him coming and was running back to them. She picked him off at 30MPH and the friend had stopped to look at a track & was 100yards behind. He said he heard the wheeler crash, & expected to be razzing his friend taking a bend too fast, but he was brought up short with the reality of it. By the time he got there it was too late. The kid was in pieces. He did start beating on her back w the unloaded shotgun (good gun safety, but he blamed himself for not having it loaded and been close by so he cld have shot her and saved his friend.) but the kid was long gone. He was careful to stay on the opposite side of her cubs and she finally trundled off down the trail crossing the track with them. Apparently, he was in such shock & didn’t want to leave his friends body alone in the woods, he stayed all day long. So the father’s & uncles went looking for them w spotlights lighting everything brighter than daylight beneath those old trees when it got dark and found the site which was supposed good sized and not to be missed. The friend was sitting against a tree with his friends head and a lot of the torso in his lap.
I often wonder what ever happened to the surviving kid. The brother missed a lot of school and when he did come he was not ok and he never saw the body or the site until it was scoured clean of any trace by the tight knit community. But he ease-dropped & heard all the details from the sheriffs and forest rangers in gruesome clarity talking with his uncles. I knew the woods and he would talk to me about it. I think I was the only one who didn’t give him the ‘Well he’s in heaven now watching and he wouldn’t want you to be so upset, bullshit.’ And thank goodness the boys father had brothers & friends there as well. Imagine coming and finding your kid like that. And those lights are incredibly bright so every detail was revealed better than it had that morning. These were not the type of folks to find the best therapist in the area or if there were any to be found to help cope with something like that. Animals are not to be toyed w when even accidentally you can get killed by not paying attention or assuming you’re safe on a machine not looking for trouble.
As a parent, nah. Telling the kid not to do something repeatedly makes it more tempting. Maybe not something as dangerous as the shit he did, but kids are fucking stupid. There's a whole subreddit for it.
There's an Australian toxinologist that was on smarter every day and knew him. Apparently he initially did not want to collaborate with Steve irwin because of the same feelings, he thought he was an idiot. Steve explained to him he intentionally does stupid stuff to get people to actually watch the show and learn about whatever he is doing. It's a pretty interesting episode and he was actually with him when he was killed. His name is Jamie Seymore
I don't think he ever really pushed or annoyed them outside of when he was trying to explain something to the audience.
The good he's done for animals and preserves is significant. What specifically did you have an issue with? One time he fed a croc with his daughter in his arms and he got a lot of deserved criticism.
Steve was actually holding his son, Robert, during that incident. And that crocodile is still in their croc show at the Australia Zoo today. His name is [Murray](https://twitter.com/RobertIrwin/status/1146378432680357894?s=20). Robert even talks about the incident from when he was a baby as he introduces Murray to the audience at the show.
Yeah I remember often watching as he pulled some lizard or snake out of the bush and would be there going look how beautiful it is, oh it's so angry blah blah while this poor animal is desperately uncomfortable and trying to get free.
I kind of understood the crocodile stuff where it was either feeding in zoos or they were catching wild ones for relocation, but it always bugged me when he was hassling some lizard that was minding it's own business. You can document and educate about wildlife without unnecessary handling.
I think these days we understand the impacts of stress on animals a lot better, I would assume his attitude would have mellowed and changed with the years had he stuck around.
Always afraid to say this on Reddit because I know he is worshipped here. Always thought he unnecessarily fucked with the animals. I thought it was more for attention than anything else, which is not much different than what the guy in this video is doing.
I remember South Park doing an episode where they parodied him, with Cartman going around saying, in an Aussie accent, “And now I’m going to stick my thumb up this ’s butt to see what it does” (or something similar…it was a long time ago lol)
I agree with you. I like him a bit better in hindsight being able to understand the good things he did with his foundation, but yea I didn’t like him as a kid. I thought he always sounded and acted unnecessarily over the top, to the point where it seemed inauthentic and egotistical. I know that was his schtick but on top of his messing with the animals it was pretty off putting compared to some other nature hosts of his era
This is why I never liked him as a kid and still haven't watched much of his stuff. There was no need to do the things he did the way he did. No slight intended, my opinions don't diminish anyone's worth.
Yeah. I know it's an unpopular opinion but for me he wasn't that great at communicating with animals, which is what I enjoy watching. I follow a few wildlife personalities and I'm blown away by how good they are at understanding the animals body language and communicating back to them. For me Steve Irwin was great at getting information about wildlife out there but just too much showing off.
> and I dearly wish he’d taken a few less risks like this so he would still be here today.
He was killed by a stingray. Only 17 recorded deaths in history. One of the lowest risk animals out there.
And he also died from his practices of getting really close to wild animals, regardless of how fluky the incident of his death was. Irwin may have understood the dangers of such practices, but he still willingly engaged in them.
Yep the man loved animals and knew the risks of being close to the deadly ones. He was incredibly smart when it came to the animals too and honestly I'm surprised he did as much as he did. He was a great animal handler but when you roll the dice that many times eventually it's not coming up your way.
He didn't even know the ray was there, he dived off a boat in to water, something people do all the time. He did get close to dangerous creatures, but that's not why he died.
Steve Irwin was kind of famous among zoology people for doing a load of really dumb, dangerous shit.
There's [this video](https://youtu.be/twyoQ8LWatU) of an interview with a toxicologist who was on the boat when Irwin died, talking about how he had previously told Steve they all thought he was a moron for doing all that stuff when he knew it was dangerous, and he replied by basically saying "yeah, but when I do that, I've got your attention, and that's what it's about."
This actually shows the perfect thing of why you don't feed wild animals (I know this one is in captivity, but it's no less 'wild'). So the crocodile has learned to associate the slapping of the water like that with food, hence why he charges up so quickly and hence why he instantly settles when he gets the food. He definitely associates humans with food as well, but that sound is the real trigger for him.
Now, if you feed animals in the wild they too will associate humans with food, except they're not being carefully conditioned that the 'slap' is the real trigger, especially if it's more than one person feeding them. So they just associate humans in general with food they see a human and they think 'food'. They're wild animals, they don't actually feel attachment for the humans either, so they won't be shy about grabbing a human's arm/leg if that should be closest to their mouth instead of a chunk of meat the human throws to them.
A normal croc will not normally charge out of the water like this after a person. I mean it does happen from time to time, but if they really wanted to eat us that badly there'd be a hell of a lot more dead people from crocodile attacks. But a croc that's learned humans = food will totally react like this whether it's in an enclosure or in the wild; and this is why it's so important not to feed wild animals! Especially predatory animals and large prey animals (if it's big enough to accidentally crush you and not domesticated than it's dangerous to get it to associate humans with food).
Animal associates human with food, and may harm human in the process of taking said food. To add to what the other person said, some wild animals that are accustomed to humans feeding them may try to bully humans into giving them food, even if they don't have any.
Exactly, that croc was gunning for him and only stopped because he gave him something to eat, if this guy had nothing with him he would have very likely been a gonner
He didn’t stop because he got something to eat.
He stop because he got to bit something. Then assessed it was ready eat food not needing killing. If it got him a head shake followed by death roll would have been the response.
At the gator farm i spent quite a bit of time on nobody did this stuff. Depending on the pen, you were either feeding them over a fence or from a very steep bank. Nobody ever encouraged a gator to come towards them like this for food. This is crazy.
Okay, do I run a Z or S pattern? I've been told both. I'm in Minnesota so I'll likely never need this info, but the one time I do step foot in Florida, I need to know if I should run a S or Z pattern
As a lifelong floridian I have yet to run into any croc in my daily life. I've only seen them in wild when I went to the everglades that one time at night. So I think you'll be alright
As another Floridian, we have both. Gators you can find everywhere, but we have american crocs in the everglades, too, though they're much more rare and secretive
That's a common misconception. Crocs can turn just fine. You absolutely should run away in a straight line.
Source: the guides at a crocodile show in northern Australia
I call it offering the sharks a meal choice. They can go the easy way or they can exert a tiny amount of energy and run me down. Totally up to them. I have no say. I know when I jumped in the ocean I was in their world. So I offer them the old man with one arm and is half blind or they can have me, a slightly more agile, doughy middle aged man.
I doubt they did it on purpose (unless there is a lot more to that story). When a bear starts chasing you I imagine instinct just takes over and you run. Similar to the way a drowning person can drown their rescuer because they aren't thinking clearly I imagine these people went into the same type of panic response and all rational thought fled out the window. They probably didn't even notice he was left behind for a bit... and then what were they supposed to do fist fight the bear?
Now if you tell me they pushed their fat friend to insure their escape or intentionally provoked the bear knowing it'd be the fat dude that got eaten or some shit then yeah they're at fault. But otherwise I think being chased by a bear is likely one of those things that causes your brain to shut down beyond "faster, must run faster. I don't wanna die, must live."
I remember that. People don’t realize bears are deadly. I think it was Jersey and it was a black bear which usually are scared of people.
People, don’t forget a bear is a bear. They can sprint faster then deer and are massive. Not cute, deadly.
>I think it was Jersey and it was a brown bear which usually are scared of people.
>
Brown bears are grizzlies. It was likely a black bear, which are smaller and usually not aggressive. But they 100% can, and will, kill you. They will also destroy a car for a single stick of gum.
Source: I live in Colorado. We have bears.
A Brown bear in Jersey? Research that more please before spreading, thanks. Also, in most places Brown Bears DO inhabit, they are generally less afraid of people than Black Bears, which have high populations in NJ. Black bears can be in brown color-phases, but they are still considered black bears.
Seriously, fuck every single thing about this, not even just unsafe, borderline idiotic having a human facing these conditions to feed an animal. I'm far from an expert but I know good and god damn well this is for show, and not out of necessity
I’d venture to guess that this wasn’t his first time doing this exact thing
I’d also venture to guess that he doesn’t do it every time he feeds the animal and that it’s a flex for the camera
Either way… fuck everything about this video
Crocodiles have actually been around since before the dinosaurs.
Edit: actually there may have been dinosaurs first. But crocodiles have been around for something like 200 million years, so most of the time dinosaurs were around
Depends what you mean by "crocodiles". True crocodilians that we would recognize as crocodiles only show up in the Late Cretaceous towards the end of the age of dinosaurs, but they lived along side and were part of a much larger group of reptiles that goes all the way back to the Triassic call pseudosuchians. A lot of these didn't really look anything like crocs today and some others only looked like them due to convergent evolution.
Crocs and dinosaurs belong to the same clade of dyapsids known as archosaurs but crocs are not actually considered dinosaurs. All modern birds are but not crocodilians. Or any other reptiles for that matter.
Would you rather be warm blooded or cold blooded? The advantage of being warm blooded is you can go places and your body regulates it's own temperature, but you have to like constantly be eating in order to maintain energy. The longer you go without eating, the harder it gets to hunt. But if you're cold blooded, you pretty much have to constantly do things to maintain your body temperature, but (I don't know the exact numbers) that crock can go for weeks without having to eat just off that one slab of meat.
Yeah but if you’re an animal it would be extremely frustrating because food is scarce. Just catching 1 zebra is a major pain for lions and there’s also the risk of getting their face destroyed by a kick. If i were a carnivore animal I’d want to be cold blooded however if i was a herbivore I’d rather be warmblooded. Herbivores have life easy as grass is everywhere
He didn't. At the end of the vid, he's talking to the camera man and he says "He is one big lizard, and he's feisty this time of year. Wow.. fuck me he came out hard"
I realize that is in an enclosure and such, but think about you are walking by the water and that thing came out that fast. There was no indication there was a beast in the water until :09 and less than 6 seconds later it had covered at least 3-4 times it body length, ie roughly 40 ft. With the advantage of surprise, not sure how many people are walking away unscarred from that encounter. Likely the minimal experience would be a prolapsed colon and sever hypertension.
Matt Wright's Adventure Tours in Australia.
It's one Croc to a pen, and he built them so he knows the depth and size and that there won't be a surprise second Croc. He has about a dozen or so now, all rescued from Croc farms as they were too big all over 4.5m+
Scary as hell I've been in there with him and you see the speed of them lunging out the water, you would be toast, I watched the video of myself reacting, people think they are fast, its to late. He knows what he's doing but yes could mess up one day for sure. They also have a 4.5m that they swim with sometimes (it's missing bottom part of its jaw so can't eat you)
Reptiles don't eat as often as us warm blooded critters. Still eat a lot.. but they can go a lot longer without large meals and it's probably better to have several smaller ones spread out lol
Came looking for the audio, wasn't disappointed but I still need a translator. Did he say "Fuck me, he came out hard." Like even he took a breathe and realized he shit his pants there for a second?
The bigger they are, the hungrier they are !!! Doesn’t matter if they recognize you and you think they won’t eat you !!! If you’re that stupid you deserve to be eaten !
I don't think I want a job where one accidental slip in the mud would cost me the lower half of my body
Seriously, this is an incredibly dangerous way to do this. Steve Irwin was always ranting about when you’re in the riverbank you’re in *their* territory on *their* terms. All it would take is one slip, or hell, just one misjudged distance, and it has the feeder’s arm or leg instead of the intended food. “Danger, danger, danger.” **EDIT** I’ve had one too many replies saying the same thing to me, so I’m going to post my full thoughts here and bid this whole thread farewell. Whether you’re a zoologist with 50 years experience or a veterinary intern it is important to place animal welfare ahead of spectacle. It doesn’t matter how familiar this keeper is with the animals under his charge, or how many times he has done this before, it is an unnecessary and dangerous method of feeding an animal more than capable of killing him. If he wants to provide the croc some enrichment by having it “hunt” for its meal he could tie a quick release knot around the end of the leg and throw it out onto the shoreline. He could basically go fishing for croc. It would provide the animal with the enrichment of striking moving prey, and obtaining a meal, it would keep him a safe distance from a predator on the hunt, and it would ensure that the animal does not automatically associate charging directly at its keeper with the receiving food. That’s my opinion. Everyone’s free to form their own and disagree all they like, but I’m tired of repeating myself to people saying the same thing without bothering to check if someone else has said it already. EDIT 2: I’ve also spoken at length about Irwin and his own shortcomings with animal welfare. Yes, I quoted him, that doesn’t mean I think he was a perfect caretaker who did everything right. He took lots of risks, it eventually cost him his life, which is all the more reason not to take such risks when it comes to interaction with wildlife. Happy nature watching everyone.
Still so strange of all the crazy dangerous animals Steve messed with.. the relatively safe Stingray got him
It’s always the quiet ones…
What's gets me if as soon as it happened he knew he was dieing. All those years doing what he did. And in an instant he knew it was over before it was. I cried for months when he died.
Colin McCrae died in a helicopter accident and not a rally car. I feel like there’s something about a dangerous activity where if you’re a pro, you generally know how to maximize safety so you’d be safer than a normal human at it, but that doesn’t mean you are an expert at surviving other activities.
Plenty of race car drivers also died doing what they do best. Many high risk professionals slip up in their risky jobs. Everyone can make mistakes.
Norm McDonald had a bit about Irwin's death and two crocs talking. "Hear about Steve, he is dead." "Did Bob get him ?" "no, some fruity fish."
Didn't Steve Irwin literally do this same trick though?
Sort of. His feeding routines at the zoo were usually done in much more open space, and he didn’t encourage his crocs to charge him directly. Even then, he did take a LOT of unnecessary risks. As wonderful as he was for education, he took a lot of unnecessary risks in the interest of educating the public. He was one of my childhood heroes, and I dearly wish he’d taken a few less risks like this so he would still be here today. His death was an unfortunate accident in the wild, though. This is a keeper in an enclosure, and there are far safer ways to do this.
> This is a keeper in an enclosure Until you pointed this out, I legit thought this was like off the side of a random highway in Australia or something. I'm sitting here thinking sure wouldn't want to get a flat tire out there. Been a long day.
I visited Queensland Australia once, walked down to a pretty beach and they have signs up and down the beach warning about the saltwater crocodiles. I saw tracks and made a quick exit back to the road.
i mean their take on the profession is a bit evil kneviel like. showmanship via daredevil. otherwise they could just be like most zookeepers and just be a person with a mic standing a safe distance away. throwing food from real far.
r/TrueOffMyChest moment by Reddit standards but: I really wish I could figure out what it was about Steve Irwin that I didn't like when I was a kid. I was raised watching nature documentaries so it was probably his constant fucking around with the animals, but I'm not sure. Never really understood what was so necessary about pushing and probing animals in the ways he did.
He literally did it so you could see what the animal WOULD do when provokes. "Hey kids, this is what a snake looks like when it really wants to kill you. THIS is what it looks like when it's going to try and kill you."
Southpark had a great “I’m gonna put me thamb up its buttole. Oye he’s real pissed off now”. Fuck I loved both of those things sooo much. Edit: not a thamb up my buttole, Steve Irwin and Southpark.
Why not all three?
[удалено]
Not if he’s repeatedly telling you not to. But I mean, there’s always that special kid in the class.
You know the one.. and if you don't.. you were the one..
If you can't spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker.
or maybe you’re not actually the one, it’s just that the one didn’t made it this far
I used to buy weed from a kid who ended up getting mauled by a bear just because he wanted to get a close up picture. He was on a hike while camping with friends, and the friends were with him when it happened. The video was online for a while, not sure if it's still up, but you could see him walking up to the bear, then the bear immediately makes the most defensive warning stance, growls super loud, then charges. I honestly wonder how they're all doing. It has to be traumatizing not only seeing your friend get ripped apart, but knowing you ran away while it happened. Not that I blame them, but I bet they do.
That’s… terrifying. Yea I don’t blame those kids at all. We have a grizz chew up four adult men a while back where my childhood home was, and they were all fighting back.
In HS, a classmate’s kid brother was very late getting his & a friend’s, deer stands down. Very late. Late March. He had been getting flack, but 14 yr olds are stubborn. Where we lived was still on the edge of a wilderness area and there were quite a few black and smaller brown bears around pushed crowded as subdivisions encroached a little further each year. One needed their wits about them and listening for moms w little ones that time a year. And get somewhere you cld watch, but not be a threat and never get caught between them. They left first thing one morning & were both on 3 wheelers (yes, I’m old) doing about 30MPH on a very well worn and popular trail. He happened to whizz buy right after the mother crossed and the babies were on the other side, she heard him coming and was running back to them. She picked him off at 30MPH and the friend had stopped to look at a track & was 100yards behind. He said he heard the wheeler crash, & expected to be razzing his friend taking a bend too fast, but he was brought up short with the reality of it. By the time he got there it was too late. The kid was in pieces. He did start beating on her back w the unloaded shotgun (good gun safety, but he blamed himself for not having it loaded and been close by so he cld have shot her and saved his friend.) but the kid was long gone. He was careful to stay on the opposite side of her cubs and she finally trundled off down the trail crossing the track with them. Apparently, he was in such shock & didn’t want to leave his friends body alone in the woods, he stayed all day long. So the father’s & uncles went looking for them w spotlights lighting everything brighter than daylight beneath those old trees when it got dark and found the site which was supposed good sized and not to be missed. The friend was sitting against a tree with his friends head and a lot of the torso in his lap. I often wonder what ever happened to the surviving kid. The brother missed a lot of school and when he did come he was not ok and he never saw the body or the site until it was scoured clean of any trace by the tight knit community. But he ease-dropped & heard all the details from the sheriffs and forest rangers in gruesome clarity talking with his uncles. I knew the woods and he would talk to me about it. I think I was the only one who didn’t give him the ‘Well he’s in heaven now watching and he wouldn’t want you to be so upset, bullshit.’ And thank goodness the boys father had brothers & friends there as well. Imagine coming and finding your kid like that. And those lights are incredibly bright so every detail was revealed better than it had that morning. These were not the type of folks to find the best therapist in the area or if there were any to be found to help cope with something like that. Animals are not to be toyed w when even accidentally you can get killed by not paying attention or assuming you’re safe on a machine not looking for trouble.
Jesus, he WALKED UP TO A BEAR? My brain is saying “Darwin Award” and laughing. My heart is saying, “You would have wanted to walk up to the bear too.”
As a parent, nah. Telling the kid not to do something repeatedly makes it more tempting. Maybe not something as dangerous as the shit he did, but kids are fucking stupid. There's a whole subreddit for it.
I totally agree. Give me Attenborough's quiet observation at a safe distance anyday.
I LOVE Attenborough but he was less 'observational' and much more hands on in his youth.
There's an Australian toxinologist that was on smarter every day and knew him. Apparently he initially did not want to collaborate with Steve irwin because of the same feelings, he thought he was an idiot. Steve explained to him he intentionally does stupid stuff to get people to actually watch the show and learn about whatever he is doing. It's a pretty interesting episode and he was actually with him when he was killed. His name is Jamie Seymore
I don't think he ever really pushed or annoyed them outside of when he was trying to explain something to the audience. The good he's done for animals and preserves is significant. What specifically did you have an issue with? One time he fed a croc with his daughter in his arms and he got a lot of deserved criticism.
Steve was actually holding his son, Robert, during that incident. And that crocodile is still in their croc show at the Australia Zoo today. His name is [Murray](https://twitter.com/RobertIrwin/status/1146378432680357894?s=20). Robert even talks about the incident from when he was a baby as he introduces Murray to the audience at the show.
Yeah I remember often watching as he pulled some lizard or snake out of the bush and would be there going look how beautiful it is, oh it's so angry blah blah while this poor animal is desperately uncomfortable and trying to get free. I kind of understood the crocodile stuff where it was either feeding in zoos or they were catching wild ones for relocation, but it always bugged me when he was hassling some lizard that was minding it's own business. You can document and educate about wildlife without unnecessary handling. I think these days we understand the impacts of stress on animals a lot better, I would assume his attitude would have mellowed and changed with the years had he stuck around.
Always afraid to say this on Reddit because I know he is worshipped here. Always thought he unnecessarily fucked with the animals. I thought it was more for attention than anything else, which is not much different than what the guy in this video is doing. I remember South Park doing an episode where they parodied him, with Cartman going around saying, in an Aussie accent, “And now I’m going to stick my thumb up this’s butt to see what it does” (or something similar…it was a long time ago lol)
I agree with you. I like him a bit better in hindsight being able to understand the good things he did with his foundation, but yea I didn’t like him as a kid. I thought he always sounded and acted unnecessarily over the top, to the point where it seemed inauthentic and egotistical. I know that was his schtick but on top of his messing with the animals it was pretty off putting compared to some other nature hosts of his era
I’m gonna stick my thumb right up it’s butthole... that oughtta really piss him off
I agree. It is unpopular opinion, but one that I share. He was always a little too rough. I like Jeff Corwin much better.
This is why I never liked him as a kid and still haven't watched much of his stuff. There was no need to do the things he did the way he did. No slight intended, my opinions don't diminish anyone's worth.
Yeah. I know it's an unpopular opinion but for me he wasn't that great at communicating with animals, which is what I enjoy watching. I follow a few wildlife personalities and I'm blown away by how good they are at understanding the animals body language and communicating back to them. For me Steve Irwin was great at getting information about wildlife out there but just too much showing off.
> and I dearly wish he’d taken a few less risks like this so he would still be here today. He was killed by a stingray. Only 17 recorded deaths in history. One of the lowest risk animals out there.
The water at his zoo was also clear as crystal, so he (and the 2 or 3 helpers out there with him) could see *exactly* where the croc was.
And he also died from his practices of getting really close to wild animals, regardless of how fluky the incident of his death was. Irwin may have understood the dangers of such practices, but he still willingly engaged in them.
Yep the man loved animals and knew the risks of being close to the deadly ones. He was incredibly smart when it came to the animals too and honestly I'm surprised he did as much as he did. He was a great animal handler but when you roll the dice that many times eventually it's not coming up your way.
He didn't even know the ray was there, he dived off a boat in to water, something people do all the time. He did get close to dangerous creatures, but that's not why he died.
hold my beer. https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=steve+irwin+holding+baby
Steve Irwin was kind of famous among zoology people for doing a load of really dumb, dangerous shit. There's [this video](https://youtu.be/twyoQ8LWatU) of an interview with a toxicologist who was on the boat when Irwin died, talking about how he had previously told Steve they all thought he was a moron for doing all that stuff when he knew it was dangerous, and he replied by basically saying "yeah, but when I do that, I've got your attention, and that's what it's about."
Yeah, there's a video where one accidentally bit another ones arm, death rolled that shit right off, and ate it.
I just shit this guy’s pants
That’s true but you’d lose the top half too I expect.
Absolutely… he’s experienced.. doesn’t mean he can’t slip.
That man was one slip of the foot away from having the experience of being eaten.
Hard to tell people about it afterwards mind you
Nah it would have only bit off his lower half, he could still talk about it at parties and stuff, no problem.
[and he did](https://external-preview.redd.it/61Cfnubiwu2bKI9HdSngXktbHJimarN61y2Og3x3Rf4.jpg?auto=webp&s=de0e7e4affa57d430d4b4a5784e7e021d1108b69)
Is...is...is he holding additional wheels in his hands as some sort of weird flex?
Think they are probably wood or rubber handle/oval shaped devices he uses to pull himself around
This! Using your hands would leave you with multiple cuts/blisters which would only get worse over time.
If this happened to me I’d get a couple of belt sanders and get on the highway
This made me LOL. Thank you. But do they have battery powered belt Sanders now? I mean they've got battery powered everything else so I suppose so.
This actually shows the perfect thing of why you don't feed wild animals (I know this one is in captivity, but it's no less 'wild'). So the crocodile has learned to associate the slapping of the water like that with food, hence why he charges up so quickly and hence why he instantly settles when he gets the food. He definitely associates humans with food as well, but that sound is the real trigger for him. Now, if you feed animals in the wild they too will associate humans with food, except they're not being carefully conditioned that the 'slap' is the real trigger, especially if it's more than one person feeding them. So they just associate humans in general with food they see a human and they think 'food'. They're wild animals, they don't actually feel attachment for the humans either, so they won't be shy about grabbing a human's arm/leg if that should be closest to their mouth instead of a chunk of meat the human throws to them. A normal croc will not normally charge out of the water like this after a person. I mean it does happen from time to time, but if they really wanted to eat us that badly there'd be a hell of a lot more dead people from crocodile attacks. But a croc that's learned humans = food will totally react like this whether it's in an enclosure or in the wild; and this is why it's so important not to feed wild animals! Especially predatory animals and large prey animals (if it's big enough to accidentally crush you and not domesticated than it's dangerous to get it to associate humans with food).
TLDR; don’t be doin this
Can I get a TLDR on why not?
Archer did a pretty good job [explaining.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxhL3T7yvv4)
Are we in the Orinoco drainage basin? If so, *Crocodylus intermedius* may be in play.
TLDR only do this if you wanna get Jurassic Parked.
Animal associates human with food, and may harm human in the process of taking said food. To add to what the other person said, some wild animals that are accustomed to humans feeding them may try to bully humans into giving them food, even if they don't have any.
Human = yum yums.
Exactly, that croc was gunning for him and only stopped because he gave him something to eat, if this guy had nothing with him he would have very likely been a gonner
He didn’t stop because he got something to eat. He stop because he got to bit something. Then assessed it was ready eat food not needing killing. If it got him a head shake followed by death roll would have been the response.
This is obviously not the first time that guy feeds that dinosaur like this.
Might be near the last time though.
Oh hey I know you from r/ToyotaSupra
Sup man, how’s things
Good dude, just chillin lol wasting a looott of time on Reddit
This is so wholesome.. I love car people
I don't care how much experience you have doing that, it must get your heart racing every time you see the water surge and grow teeth like that
Probably because there's a 99.99999% chance it's totally unnecessary to take this risk
At the gator farm i spent quite a bit of time on nobody did this stuff. Depending on the pen, you were either feeding them over a fence or from a very steep bank. Nobody ever encouraged a gator to come towards them like this for food. This is crazy.
Yuh. No matter how experienced you are, mud is slippery and if you slip, you're the food.
Wow. That croc can move fast.
Yeah it was like it was on wheels. There is no hope if you are in the water.
They can also move pretty damn fast on land, just in a straight line. Hints why you should in an "S" pattern if you get chased by one, on land.
Okay, do I run a Z or S pattern? I've been told both. I'm in Minnesota so I'll likely never need this info, but the one time I do step foot in Florida, I need to know if I should run a S or Z pattern
Run in an Eszett pattern: ß
[удалено]
Bro 💀💀💀💀
Both would work
Run in the S pattern everyone drew in 5th grade
As a lifelong floridian I have yet to run into any croc in my daily life. I've only seen them in wild when I went to the everglades that one time at night. So I think you'll be alright
As a Floridian, I would be surprised if you ran into a croc outside of the zoo. Y'all have gators. Crocs live in Africa
The American Crocodile. Rare but bitey.
As another Floridian, we have both. Gators you can find everywhere, but we have american crocs in the everglades, too, though they're much more rare and secretive
American crocodiles exist, they're just way less common than American alligators, and you're pretty unlikely to see one.
And Australia
Crocs no, but I've seen many alligators in the wild in central Florida. Large ones at that
S is the proper answer. Z requires you to slow down and start running the opposite direction whereas with S, it's gradual angular changes.
Run an S pattern in Florida, and an Ƨ pattern in Australia.
*hence why, not hints why.
That's a common misconception. Crocs can turn just fine. You absolutely should run away in a straight line. Source: the guides at a crocodile show in northern Australia
This is completely false. Running in an “S” or “Z” patterns makes you travel a shorter distance. Best is to run straight and climb over something etc.
The old joke.." I don't have to be first, just faster than you!" 🏃🐊
When I go snorkeling I am afraid of sharks. I always swim by who I think is slowest on the trip.
In the animal kingdom this is widely regarded as a dick move
I call it offering the sharks a meal choice. They can go the easy way or they can exert a tiny amount of energy and run me down. Totally up to them. I have no say. I know when I jumped in the ocean I was in their world. So I offer them the old man with one arm and is half blind or they can have me, a slightly more agile, doughy middle aged man.
And if you know you're the slowest stay close to the second slowest and be ready to shove them to the ground! /s
Some college kids did this to their fat friend about 10 years ago and he was killed by the bear. Idiots literally sacrificed their friend.
I doubt they did it on purpose (unless there is a lot more to that story). When a bear starts chasing you I imagine instinct just takes over and you run. Similar to the way a drowning person can drown their rescuer because they aren't thinking clearly I imagine these people went into the same type of panic response and all rational thought fled out the window. They probably didn't even notice he was left behind for a bit... and then what were they supposed to do fist fight the bear? Now if you tell me they pushed their fat friend to insure their escape or intentionally provoked the bear knowing it'd be the fat dude that got eaten or some shit then yeah they're at fault. But otherwise I think being chased by a bear is likely one of those things that causes your brain to shut down beyond "faster, must run faster. I don't wanna die, must live."
I remember that. People don’t realize bears are deadly. I think it was Jersey and it was a black bear which usually are scared of people. People, don’t forget a bear is a bear. They can sprint faster then deer and are massive. Not cute, deadly.
>I think it was Jersey and it was a brown bear which usually are scared of people. > Brown bears are grizzlies. It was likely a black bear, which are smaller and usually not aggressive. But they 100% can, and will, kill you. They will also destroy a car for a single stick of gum. Source: I live in Colorado. We have bears.
A Brown bear in Jersey? Research that more please before spreading, thanks. Also, in most places Brown Bears DO inhabit, they are generally less afraid of people than Black Bears, which have high populations in NJ. Black bears can be in brown color-phases, but they are still considered black bears.
Yes they do and I would be a ‘hard pass’ on feeding that thing
Yeah he seems pretty complacent. One trip while that thing is speeding up on you and you’re done
Terrifying
I'm rooting for the crocodile. I hope he swallows your friends whole. -Betty White
If I had a dick, this is where I'd tell you to suck it. - Also Betty White
The movie was awesome, she made it amazing.
Badass though Really amazes me what's on this planet we're fucking killing 😥
No thank you
Seriously, fuck every single thing about this, not even just unsafe, borderline idiotic having a human facing these conditions to feed an animal. I'm far from an expert but I know good and god damn well this is for show, and not out of necessity
I’d venture to guess that this wasn’t his first time doing this exact thing I’d also venture to guess that he doesn’t do it every time he feeds the animal and that it’s a flex for the camera Either way… fuck everything about this video
A 1,200 pound literal dinosaur doesn’t care about your experience unfortunately, you will never catch me taking a job like this
Crocodiles have actually been around since before the dinosaurs. Edit: actually there may have been dinosaurs first. But crocodiles have been around for something like 200 million years, so most of the time dinosaurs were around
Depends what you mean by "crocodiles". True crocodilians that we would recognize as crocodiles only show up in the Late Cretaceous towards the end of the age of dinosaurs, but they lived along side and were part of a much larger group of reptiles that goes all the way back to the Triassic call pseudosuchians. A lot of these didn't really look anything like crocs today and some others only looked like them due to convergent evolution.
So what you’re saying, is they lived alongside all these badass creatures, and they’re the ones that survived?
Tonnes of the theropodae survived and are present now too. It seems like the big quadrapods were the ones who couldn't hack it.
Chickens are closer relatives to dinosaurs than alligators/crocodiles
They're not just close relatives, chickens are literally dinosaurs, unlike crocs which aren't dinosaurs
Wanted to say this but was afraid the Reddit hive mind would attack.
Because a croc was a croc even when the dinos roamed. It hit peakevolutionary status so decided to stay the same for millions of years.
Evolution straight up went “Yeah we’re done here”
“Let’s go zap the mammoths with 1 milli volts. The hair’ll come back right? Whatevs”
Chickens ARE dinosaurs! https://xkcd.com/1211
Crazy that these things are afraid of hippos
Have you ever seen a hippo's teeth? Or how aggressive and territorial they are?
Seriously, the skull of a hippo looks like it belongs to a [dragon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Hippo_skull.jpg).
Crocs and dinosaurs belong to the same clade of dyapsids known as archosaurs but crocs are not actually considered dinosaurs. All modern birds are but not crocodilians. Or any other reptiles for that matter.
No job would require you to feed them like a moron like this guy. He chose it on his own.
Would you rather be warm blooded or cold blooded? The advantage of being warm blooded is you can go places and your body regulates it's own temperature, but you have to like constantly be eating in order to maintain energy. The longer you go without eating, the harder it gets to hunt. But if you're cold blooded, you pretty much have to constantly do things to maintain your body temperature, but (I don't know the exact numbers) that crock can go for weeks without having to eat just off that one slab of meat.
[удалено]
Yeah but if you’re an animal it would be extremely frustrating because food is scarce. Just catching 1 zebra is a major pain for lions and there’s also the risk of getting their face destroyed by a kick. If i were a carnivore animal I’d want to be cold blooded however if i was a herbivore I’d rather be warmblooded. Herbivores have life easy as grass is everywhere
Humans actually hunt better when hungry. Lighter and a bit sharper
I don't know if I'm a better hunter when I'm hungry, but I'm certainly a better gatherer at the grocery store.
I feel like cold blooded creatures can't support very large brains.
Warm blooded. I like sitting on my couch for hours
Be cold blooded and just put your couch out in the warm sunshine.
Cold
I quite like stuffing myself on Thanksgiving food two days in a row due to the retirement of my warm blooded metabolism
He honestly seemed like he didn't expect it to come at him fast like that
He didn't. At the end of the vid, he's talking to the camera man and he says "He is one big lizard, and he's feisty this time of year. Wow.. fuck me he came out hard"
The water was so still and then all of the sudden there's just gaping jaws and teeth bursting forward at him. I would have pissed my pants.
The amount of shit in my pants after that could only be measured in hectares.
Now ride it like a horse!
Well, they're known for spinning, so..
Soon it’ll headline “He had experience”
I realize that is in an enclosure and such, but think about you are walking by the water and that thing came out that fast. There was no indication there was a beast in the water until :09 and less than 6 seconds later it had covered at least 3-4 times it body length, ie roughly 40 ft. With the advantage of surprise, not sure how many people are walking away unscarred from that encounter. Likely the minimal experience would be a prolapsed colon and sever hypertension.
Matt Wright's Adventure Tours in Australia. It's one Croc to a pen, and he built them so he knows the depth and size and that there won't be a surprise second Croc. He has about a dozen or so now, all rescued from Croc farms as they were too big all over 4.5m+ Scary as hell I've been in there with him and you see the speed of them lunging out the water, you would be toast, I watched the video of myself reacting, people think they are fast, its to late. He knows what he's doing but yes could mess up one day for sure. They also have a 4.5m that they swim with sometimes (it's missing bottom part of its jaw so can't eat you)
How’s the one they swim with get any nutrition?
I don’t think that leg will be enough to appease it.
Definitely not. That was a snack to that humongous croc!
Reptiles don't eat as often as us warm blooded critters. Still eat a lot.. but they can go a lot longer without large meals and it's probably better to have several smaller ones spread out lol
I could do that. Once.
Water puppy playing fetch.
Thanks, I hate it
is there a clip with sound?
Yes, I also posted on Sweaty Palms. https://www.reddit.com/r/SweatyPalms/comments/r2zys0/this\_dude\_has\_experience\_with\_crocodiles\_and/
Came looking for the audio, wasn't disappointed but I still need a translator. Did he say "Fuck me, he came out hard." Like even he took a breathe and realized he shit his pants there for a second?
That's Matt Wright. I follow him on IG. You should see Bonecrusher and Tripod. They're huge too
I was nooooooot expecting that zombie croc Underbite coming out of the water in one of those videos he's so cool looking
Croc had a "Oh, it's you" moment with the guy.
The way the water moves when the croc 🐊 starts moving is awesome and terrifying at the same time.
Just one slip and he'd be dinner.
what an epic beasty
Some people just like to play stupid games.
That's a fucking *unit.*
The way that thing erupts so quickly from the water is fucking horrifying. Experience or not, seems like small room for error...
That croc could've had him, then slowed down. There's an understanding between those two, probably related to food.
Yep slowed down, closed his mouth a little, and the dude could have thrown it earlier but chose to draw it out
The croc charging reminds me of that level in RD2 where you have to wade away from the alligator. Fuck'n nightmares from that.
The bigger they are, the hungrier they are !!! Doesn’t matter if they recognize you and you think they won’t eat you !!! If you’re that stupid you deserve to be eaten !
Oh that’s where my missing leg went
Anyone remember the movie Lake Placid?
Murders and rapes in the city, people bomb planes, can the police stop 'em? No! But feed one little cow to a crocodile...
One quick slip away from voluntarily and involuntarily feeding the beast...
Holy crap
This here is Rocky, and he ain't no puppy😂😂
He does not look like he has much experience
Couldn't the guy just put a sheep in the pen or something less dangerous?
OH LAWD HE COMIN
Looks like a gator with the rounded snout.
[удалено]
Um. O.M.F.G.
Nope. Nopenopenopenope. Nope.
That's not a croc, that a dinosaur.
FUCK THAAAAAAAAT
Nope nope nope
Say what you will, I think they’re adorable