Robert Irwin has been lighting up the floor on Dancing With the Stars Season 34, undoubtedly making his late dad, Steve Irwin, proud. The “Crocodile Hunter” died on September 4, 2006, when he was just 44 years old.
'The Crocodile Hunter', Steve Irwin, poses with a three foot long alligator at the San Francisco Zoo on June 26, 2002

“He’s still part of every day,” Robert told People. “He’s part of every conversation. He’s part of my life. And I feel as though I get a little part of him back in some way, in every conversation I have about him, or any new story I hear about him, or in any new photo that I haven’t seen before.”

As Robert’s journey in the dance competition continues, scroll down to learn more about his father and how he tragically died.

What was Steve Irwin’s cause of death?

The Crocodile Hunter host died after being stung by a stingray off the coast of Australia. Steve had been filming a documentary called Ocean’s Deadliest, but bad weather put a pause on production, so he and his cameraman, Justin Lyons, started recording a segment to be featured in a wildlife series narrated by Steve’s daughter (and Robert’s sister) Bindi Irwin.

The stingray attacked Steve while he was snorkeling in shallow water. Its barb punctured Steve’s lungs and heart, leaving a two-inch wide gash, according to Lyons.
Steve Irwin poses with his family at Australia Zoo June 19, 2006 in Beerwah, Australia

Australia Zoo via Getty Images

“It probably thought that Steve’s shadow was a tiger shark, which feeds on them very regularly,” Lyons explained. “I panned with the camera as the stingray swam away. I didn’t even know it had caused any damage. It wasn’t until I panned the camera back, that Steve was standing in a huge pool of blood, that I realized something had gone wrong.”

Steve’s Ocean’s Deadliest cohost told WUFT that the crew “worked hard for several hours to try and resuscitate him, but the wound was too grievous into his heart from the stingray barb.”

How many times did the stingray sting Steve Irwin?

The stingray only stung Steve once, but it delivered “hundreds of strikes in a few seconds,” according to Lyons.

What were Steve Irwin’s last words?

Steve was still conscious after the stingray attack, although Lyons noted that he was in a lot of pain at the time. The cameraman recalled his friend’s last words in an interview on Studio 10 in Australia.

“We’re saying to him things like, ‘Think of your kids, Steve, hang on, hang on, hang on,’” Lyons recalled on Studio 10. “And he just sort of calmly looked up at me and said, ‘I’m dying,’ and that was the last thing he said.”

How old was Robert Irwin when his dad died?

Robert was just 2 years old when his father died. He was three months away from turning 3. Now, he relies on archival footage to remember the man he never got to know.

“I’ll often come across archive footage that I haven’t seen before,” Robert explained to People. “And all of a sudden, his memory just starts flooding back. So it’s weird that decades later, after losing someone when I was 2 years old, I almost have an even greater picture of the person he was.”

He also added, “I think losing someone as important as him at such a young age solidified the idea that life is fragile. We don’t know what tomorrow holds, so you have to take calculated risks, you have to have fun, enjoy what you’re doing, and give everything 100 percent.”