Stingrays are strange-looking on th...

Stingrays are strange-looking on the other hand normally shy creatures whose defense include poisonous, serrated barbs in their tails.

For Steve Irwin to die from an collision with a stingray was a freak event experts said. They said the triangular-shaped rays are usually unobtrusive, gliding by the and of the water, rummaging on the sea bottom for subsistence But when startled, they expand spines up to 10 inches protracted

"If it's spook by way of someone stepping on it or swimming too closely across it, frightening it, the tail raises involuntarily," said Victoria Brims, a marine life skilful

The spines emit toxins that can kill many small creatures and that cause excruciating pain in humans. scarcely any people die from the poison.

Simon Pierce of Queensland University's exercise of Biological Sciences said there were no accurate records of stingray deaths, nevertheless estimated there had been about 30 worldwide in latter years.

Witnesses said Irwin was struck directly in the heart. "It was extraordinarily bad luck" said Shaun Collin, a University of Queensland marine neuroscientist.

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