Wildlife presenter Steve Irwin was "tiresome", says Simon King

Simon King, who co-hosts the BBC's nature programme Springwatch, has criticised the snake-wrestling presenting style of other wildlife presenters

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Steve Irwin - whose "animal antics" have been criticised by BBC presenter Simon King
The award-winning naturalist, who is being hailed as the next Sir David Attenborough, said he found the "animal-grabbing" antics of TV presenters like Nigel Marven and the late Steve Irwin "tiresome".

"It's theatre, and I understand the appeal," he said in an interview with the Radio Times, "but I dislike the way animals are manipulated and the message it sends out...At the end of it all, a knowledge of natural history is the most important tool. If you don't have the background, then you're stuffed."

King's soft-spoken presenting style could not be more different from the energetic performances of Irwin, who was killed in 2006 by a stingray while performing in front of the camera. The Australian, who was famous for grappling with "salties" or saltwater crocodiles, had a loyal following in nations such as Britain, America and Japan.

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However, he attracted condemnation four years ago when he held his one-month-old son, Bob, over a crocodile pen as he fed a chicken to a 13ft-long saltie at Australia Zoo, the wildlife park he owned on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

Despite a barrage of criticism, Irwin was unrepentant.

"What I'd do differently is I'd make sure there were no cameras around," he said.

Nigel Marven, too, has attracted criticism over his unorthodox style of presenting wildlife documentaries.

In his first television series for ITV, Giants, he swam with a great white shark without the protection of a cage. Other scenes included him having a goliath birdeater spider, arguably the largest spider in the world, walk over his face, and grappling with a fifteen-foot rock python deep in its underground lair.