Crikey!

[theweaselking]

Steve Irwin has, in his zoo, the oldest living animal in the Australian subcontinent: A galapagos tortoise, collected at the age of 5 in *1835* by a Mr Charles Darwin.

Comments

[ex-iocaste2.livejournal.com]

By limiting it to the Australian subcontinent, do you mean to suggest there are living animals in other parts of the world that are older???

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

There might be another Galapagod tortoise that is older - but he's got the oldest one in Australia.

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

Indeed, it was there, in 1960, that it was discovered that she was a Harriet and not a Harry!

Took them long enough.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

One would expect the eggs to have given it away sooner.

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

Not if there were no Harrys around.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

I know a lot of people make fun of Erwin for his show, but of all the people in the world I'd trust to take care of an animal like that, he's somewhere near the top of the list.

[cmseward.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he's crazy, but his enthusiasm for wildlife and the environment is great to see.

[jerril]

He's an embarrasment to Australians everywhere, but mostly in the "oh gawd, now everyone thinks we're like that" sort of way.

Also, something to think about when watching Steve freak out about some new highly toxic herpetalogical discovery? Steve becomes more hyperactive and enthused when he's afraid. He's admitted to being terrified of sharks, and in the episode when he went swimming with sharks he got more and more manic the closer the sharks got.

Stupid macho Australian idiot that he is, he has to prove he isn't afraid of it by being in rapture over it, but that's *so* much better than proving he isn't afraid by killing it.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

The main difference between him and other guys is that Irwin makes, as a *selling point*, the fact that he doesn't actually cut the outtakes. It's his gimmick, which makes him different from all the other guys.

Take the Rattlesnake Episode - Steve is getting close to a sunning snake, with him on one side and the camera on the other. He's getting closer, saying "Look at this beauty! We're WELL within striking range, but he's not afraid of us. He's watching, but he's not moving or shaking his rattle, and they ALWAYS rattle first, so we'll have warning to get away!" - at which point, with Steve's face about a foot away from the snake and the camera about 2 feet away from the snake, with no warning whatsoever, it strikes the camera. Steve's got this awesome "oh, holy shit" look, the camera guy falls over himself jumping away, and they both back off ASAP going "uh, well, I guess I was wrong. I've never HEARD of a rattler doing that! I'm glad we got it on video" - and the camera guy says something indistinct that I'm pretty sure was "I hate you, Steve".

The point is, could you ever see David Suzuki doing that?

[cmseward.livejournal.com]

I think the one I remember best for that sort of thing is when he was in Indonesia, and came across a reticulated python (I think it was, anyway). It was obviously a little freaked out, but he's trying to calm it (strangely, *not* by putting it down, but oh well), when it wraps itself around his arm and begins chewing on his forearm. He continues on with his "what a beauty" thing, while blood is streaming out of him, and the snake is worrying his arm like a dog with a bone. Very strange man.