If you keep up with the goings-on of the Irwin family, the first thing that will become apparent is how dedicated the late Steve Irwin’s children are to carrying on his mission of wildlife conservation.
But while both Bindi and Robert are likely more comfortable than any of us will ever be around a crocodile, we can often see that Robert in particular has inherited his father’s adventurous streak.
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We can see that in the good-natured way he plays off being bitten in the face by a snake , but that especially came across during a recent segment from his family’s reality show Crikey! It’s the Irwins that he put on Instagram.
And not only does it make for a pretty harrowing close call, but it also wouldn’t have been out of place back when The Crocodile Hunter started airing.
The clip from the show’s finale that appeared on Instagram serves as just the latest example of Irwin getting up close and personal with crocodiles for a live feed.
And if you’ve ever wondered why he puts himself so close to something with such big jaws, Irwin explained why in a post from February 6.
As he put it , “We prioritise natural behaviour with our crocs. By getting in their enclosures with them, and letting them put on those huge strikes from the water’s edge, they get to use all of their predatory instincts and they just love it.”
But while it may not seem that way in photos and clips of live feeds, safety is an important consideration for Irwin as well.
For that reason, it was hard for Irwin not to feel like he had his work cut out for him during his first time feeding a leucistic 12-foot crocodile named Casper.
Not only did Irwin describe this as the “wildest” crocodile at the Australia Zoo right now, but he also said that the lack of pigmentation in the crocodile’s skin makes it difficult to spot him while he’s submerged.
Nonetheless, Irwin and his team at the Australia Zoo are looking to make Casper the star of the latest mid-day show at the facility’s “Crocoseum.”
But since this is an entirely new environment for Casper, Irwin’s decision to jump into his enclosure and feed him was intended as a test to see how he’s acclimating to his new digs.
And while Irwin had no idea how the crocodile would react, he hoped that Casper acted as close to his predatory instincts as possible.
In Irwin’s words, “Now we want to see a nice, big reaction from him. That’s how we know he’s happy.”
And as we can see in the full video here, it seems that Irwin got his wish.
After his partner kept Casper’s mate Wendy from interfering, Robert stomped at the edge of his pool to create vibrations and dangled some meat over him.
But Casper seemed to ignore both that savory treat and a second one Irwin lobbed at him in favor of charging and snapping at Irwin himself.
This led him to run away from the crocodile yelling “bail bail bail” all the while and it’s hardly a surprise that he considered this encounter “one of the most intense croc feeds I’ve done.”
h/t: Instagram | @robertirwinphotography
