Robert Irwin recently swam with a stingray.
That in and of itself wouldn’t be too weird -- Irwin is afterall an Australian animal lover and adventurer.
But he is also the son of the beloved Steve Irwin, who was famously killed in 2006 when he was stung in the chest by a stingray just near the Great Barrier Reef.
As TMZ reports, the connection was obvious and eerie to fans of the adventurous TV family when they saw Robert’s Instagram post yesterday that featured a photo of Robert swimming towards a large stingray, extending his hand to the creature -- and taken at the same Great Barrier Reef location.
But to Robert, it was an appropriate way to celebrate “Shark Week” on the Discovery channel.
The photo of Robert with a stingray was just one in a series he posted of various beautiful swimming and boating shots. The brave-beyond-his-years 17-year-old’s caption doesn’t even make mention of the obvious connection to his father.
“Sunday July 11 at 8pm I get the honour of kicking off shark week on @discovery in the USA with ‘Crikey! It’s Shark Week’🦈 For the first leg of this epic adventure, I’ll travel to the spectacular Great Barrier Reef as a warm up before I go face to face with great white sharks at the Neptune Islands. From night diving with sharks on the hunt, to getting one-on-one with massive manta rays, it was a great way to start this expedition!" the caption reads.
And in his excited and always-curious way, Robert celebrates his father’s bold spirit.
The Irwin family has had other reasons to celebrate lately, as Bindi welcomed her first daughter in March.
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