Stephen Robert "Steve" Irwin (born 22 February 1962 in Essendon, Victoria, Australia) is the owner and manager of the Australia Zoo at Beerwah, Queensland, Australia. He is best known as The Crocodile Hunter, which is the name of the unconventional nature documentary series on television he hosts, assisted by his American-born wife, Terri Irwin. His larger-than-life persona and seemingly outrageous antics (including the close handling of both common and rare species of wildlife and, perhaps most famously, the capture of live crocodiles and other reptiles on-screen) are key features in the presentation, which provides a forum for educational information about wildlife conservation and conflicts with humans in various parts of the world. The program has made the Irwins television personalities on several continents.

Biography

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Born in the Melbourne area, Steve Irwin moved with his parents as a child to Queensland. His parents, Bob and Lyn, ran the small Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park, where Steve grew up around crocodiles and other reptiles. He became a crocodile trapper, removing crocodiles from near populated areas, performing the service for free with the quid pro quo that he kept them for the park. As a child, he had a negative encounter with a macaw, and still retains some fear of parrots.

In 1991, he took over the running of the park, now renamed the "Australia Zoo", and in 1992 met (at the park) and married Terri. The footage, shot by John Stainton, of their crocodile-trapping honeymoon became the first episode of The Crocodile Hunter, which became wildly successful in America.

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