I learned today that Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter, died at the age of 44. He was killed by a stingray off of The Great Barrier Reef while filming a series on the deadliest sea creatures.
A barb is the bone like structure within the tail of a stingray. It is used as a defense mechanism for stingrays and has been compared to that of a serrated bayonet. After a stingray has stab the barb in to their offender, it can actually break off the barb leaving it within its offender.
Stingrays are not known to be dangerous animals and Steve is only the second person to have actually died from a stingray encounter.
Below are a few pictures of different stingray barbs.
This is just to show where the barb is located.
Below is just an example of the effect that a barb can have after it has stabbed a divers bootie.
It may not seem that serious, but after you look at the result on the foot in the picture below the bootie you will see that yes, it really has a serious effect. Many cases have been reported, but none as serious as the result of Steve Irwin's case. For most, it is a slow healing wound. The reason for that being that most doctors will increase the size of the wound to ensure that there are no remnants of the barb left inside the wound. If remnants are left behind they may actually cause gangrene to occur, making the removal of all remnants an important factor.
Steve you were a "Crikey" of a man and you will be missed.
2 comments:
he was a good man. i think we all are incredibly saddened and shocked that this happened. i never realized how much i really liked and respected steve irwin until i actually heard about his death and felt this immense sadness. thank you for sharing and writing that. very informative.
Indeed he was and I don't think there will be another like him in our time. Oh there will definitely be some that try, but they just won't have the true enthusiasm that he portrayed for what seemed to be every moment of his life.
Post a Comment