Steve Irwin (was: Australian Disco)

[Delaney, Timothy]

> From: Fredrik Lundh [mailto:fredrik at pythonware.com]
> 
> Gary Stephenson wrote:
> > Umm, I'm not really sure this is a claim we should be 
> making!  Next thing
> > you'll have us claiming responsibility for making disco 
> popular - and then
> > they'll just have to shoot us!  ;-)
> 
> but Steve Irwin is your fault, right?

Actually, much as Steve Irwin is a joke, he's also bloody good at what he
does. His over-the-top "Australian" antics are soley for the benefit of his
US viewers.

I still get a shakey feeling in my stomach when I think of him being tasted
by a fierce snake - even knowing that he lived, that really scared me.

For those who don't know, the fierce snake is the eastern banded taipan, the
most venomous snake in the world. Immediately after hatching, it contains
enough venom to kill 100 rats (or was it 100 humans? I forget). An adult
human generally has time to walk about 50 metres before death ...

Taronga Park Zoo (in Sydney) had a fire in its reptile house a couple of
years back, and as a result we lost many of our venom sources for producing
anti-venom - including all captive fierce snakes. Steve Irwin went out and
captured an entire nest of just-hatched fierce snakes. He made a program
about finding the nest, observing the mother, etc - and part of it was him -
staying *very* still - while the mother tasted him. That takes cahonies
*this big* ... if it had bitten him there is almost zero chance he would be
around today, even though I'm sure they had lots of the anti-venom with
them.

Tim Delaney