Claim: Steve Irwin was on television.

Stephen Robert Irwin -LRB- 22 February 1962 -- 4 September 2006 -RRB- , nicknamed `` The Crocodile Hunter '' , was an Australian nature expert and television personality . Irwin achieved worldwide fame from the television series The Crocodile Hunter , an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series which he co-hosted with his wife Terri . Together , the couple also owned and operated Australia Zoo , founded by Irwin 's parents in Beerwah , about 80 km north of the Queensland state capital city of Brisbane .   Irwin died on 4 September 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming an underwater documentary film titled Ocean 's Deadliest . The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship was named in his honour .