Today's Google Doodle celebrates the legacy of Australian wildlife conservationist and celebrity Steve Irwin.
Steve Irwin's absolute love and passion for wildlife was passed down to him by his parents, Bob and Lyn Irwin, when they gifted him an eleven-foot python for his sixth birthday.
Steve then decided to lovingly name the snake Fred. The Irwins eventually moved to the Australian state of Queensland, where they opened a reptile park, known as the Beerwah Reptile Park.
At the tender age of nine, Steve Irwin was already wrestling crocodiles and volunteering with organisations like the Queensland's East Coast Crocodile Management Program, which helps to capture and relocate endangered saltwater crocodiles.
With time, Steve Irwin himself started to manage the family park, which was renamed the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park and eventually the Australia Zoo.
He met his wife, Terri, when she visited the zoo. An animal lover, just like him, Steve and Terri famously spent their wildlife-fuelled honeymoon capturing crocodiles.
In fact, the footage they recorded in the wildlife eventually became the basis for the first episode of Steve Irwin’s famous television show, ‘The Crocodile Hunter’.
While Steve Irwin and Terri Irwin hosted the show together, their children Robert and Bindi became started to participate in it as well.
The show was a tremendous hit, with around 500 million people watching the show from over a 100 countries.
Among his many accomplishments, Irwin also discovered a new species of snapping turtle, which was named after him as the 'Elseya irwini'.
Steve Irwin was awarded the Centenary Medal for a lifetime of service in 2001 and he was also nominated for the Australian of the Year in 2004. To further honour Steve Irwin's legacy, November 15 is marked as Steve Irwin Day
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