![]() These teeth start out growing downward, but then curve back around and begin to grow up and into the top of the snout. The lower canine teeth are long and overlap the edge of the babirusa’s snout as they grow, but it’s the upper canines that are truly distinctive. Like many pigs, the male babirusa’s canine teeth will continue to grow throughout its entire life as long as there is a blood supply-a lot like our fingernails and our hair. The North Sulawesi babirusa is most famous for its interesting upper tusks, which only the males possess, but both sexes have lower tusks. There are four different types of babirusas. One of these pigs is not like the others. The word babirusa means “pig deer” in the Malay language, as their wild-growing tusks are reminiscent of deer antlers. #Growing up animal skinAustralia Zoo now encompasses over 700 acres and employs over 500 staff, continuing Steve’s mission of “Conservation Through Exciting Education”.The babirusa has been called "a wild pig with a dental problem." They have remarkable tusks or canine teeth that can grow right up through the skin in their snout and curve back toward their forehead. They are ensuring that Steve’s legacy lives on. Terri, Bindi and Robert’s efforts today honour the greatest Wildlife Warrior who ever lived. On 4 September 2006, we heartbreakingly lost Steve in an accident while he was snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef. These programs have been enjoyed by over 500 million viewers world-wide. Steve and Terri would go on to film over 300 episodes of The Crocodile Hunter, Croc Diaries, Croc Files, New Breed Vets, Ghosts of War and Bindi: The Jungle Girl. This world-class facility continues to rescue, rehabilitate and release over 7000 native Australian animals every year. In 2004, Steve dedicated the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital to his mum, after her tragic passing in 2000. From its humble beginnings as an avocado packing shed, they established the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital. Both Bindi and Robert soon developed a deep love of wildlife, just like their parents.Īs filming generated extra funds, Steve and Terri had agreed to put all money raised from filming and merchandise back into conservation. Steve and Terri were blessed with the births of two beautiful children Bindi, in 1998 and Robert, in 2003. Their mission was to make this zoo the very best in Australia, if not the world! Extensive efforts were made to create habitats, so that all zoo animals could be exhibited in natural environments.Īustralia Zoo expanded, as did the Irwin family. This became the first episode of The Crocodile Hunter documentary series.Īs the popularity of The Crocodile Hunter grew, Steve and Terri changed the name of their now growing wildlife park to ‘Australia Zoo’. Instead of a honeymoon, the couple took the chance to embark on a crocodile rescue mission, filming this experience. Their lives changed dramatically when, on the 4th June 1992, Steve and Terri married, beginning a life of adventure. Steve’s passion for reptiles was matched by Terri’s love for predatory mammals. Terri Raines, from Eugene, Oregon, when she visited the park. In 1991, Steve took over the management of the small wildlife park and, not long after, he met Harriet lived out the last two decades of her life with the Irwin family before she passed away in June 2006. She became an iconic member of the park, much loved by staff and guests. It was during this same time that the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park became the home of a beautiful Galapagos tortoise, named Harriet. At this stage, Steve was enlisted by the Queensland Government to help with crocodiles, by volunteering for the East-Coast Crocodile Management Program and captured well over 100 crocodiles, which were either relocated or housed within the family’s park. He would go on field trips with his family right through the 1970s, helping to relocate problem crocodiles, study snakes in Queensland’s deserts and assisted the university with bird surveys as he was incredibly skilled at climbing trees.īy the 1980s, the wildlife park had expanded to four acres, had two full-time staff and was re-branded as the ‘Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park’. Steve demonstrated an uncanny gift with wildlife from a very young age. She was an extraordinary wildlife rehabilitator and was quite skilled in nursing injured and orphaned animals, rehabilitating them before returning them to the wild. Many of the kangaroos were cared for in homemade pouches by Steve’s mum, Lyn. Established in 1970, this two-acre wildlife park was home to native wildlife such as lace monitors, tiger snakes, freshwater crocodiles, magpie geese and kangaroos. Steve was born into wildlife, growing up on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, helping his parents at the ‘Beerwah Reptile Park’. ![]()
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