Experts: Death Of 'Crocodile Hunter' Unusual
Stingrays Usually Not Aggressive
Steve Irwin, the man known as the "Crocodile Hunter," is being remembered by millions of fans around the world for his bravery and his humor.
He was killed Monday while filming a documentary. Not by a crocodile, as one might expect, but by a stingray.
Stingrays usually are not aggressive, so why did the animal attack him?
Irwin avoided fatal mishaps for years during close encounters with animals considered far more dangerous -- such as whales in the Antarctic and the crocodiles that made him famous.
"This is so unusual," said Steve Blair of the Aquarium of the Pacific. "It would have to be a large ray (that would) hit you in the exactly wrong spot."
The wrong spot was Irwin's heart. He died despite his crew's desperate attempts to save him.
Experts say stings are incredibly rare, and most happen when someone steps on a ray unknowingly.
Ray Davis of the Georgia Aquarium said stingrays only use the razor-sharp, often poisonous barbs when threatened, like when they have to ward off their principal predator -- sharks.
Otherwise, Davis said, stingrays are truly passive creatures.
Visitors to the Georgia Aquarium are allowed to pet small stingrays whose barbs have been trimmed.
NBC's Al Roker got familiar with them back in 1990 during a dive at Stingray City in the Cayman Islands.
Officials there told NBC News that they've never had a critical injury or death among 10 million underwater