Why do stingrays attack

Still, it's possible to die from a wound inflicted by a live stingray, but what about a dead one? Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close.

Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. Prev NEXT. Wild Animals. Marine Life. I love how I asked google how often people die from stingray attacks and, from the whole blog post, it knew exactly which paragraph to read out loud with the answer.

In one of his Galapagos excursions he had to be told a number of times, by a Galapagos preserve ranger, to give more space to the critters he was trying to encounter. I am very sorry Steve died in this way, for him and his family and friends. But, being so enthusiastic, he raced to get on top of this sting ray, in chest deep water in order to get the exciting video.

The innocent ray instinctively reacted to Steve as a predator, likely a tiger shark about to attack. His vital conservation mission will continue, through his family and through people around the world who share his loving values for the earth. RIP Steve Irwin. It was virtually inevitable that some creature would take his life. His time on this Earth was apparently up. It is amazing to see his son carry on the family tradition.

His son is SO very professional and a pleasure to watch just like his dad was. Steve Irwin was absolutely not harassing wildlife, though it may seem that way.

He was a daring man who made educational wildlife videos for the Australia Zoo. Steve Irwin had no intentions on stressing out any of the animals, however, almost any animal even domestic has the potential to be stressed around humans or particularly unknown people.

Out of defense, the stingray attacked Steve Irwin thinking he was a shark. Steve did nothing wrong to this animal, but unfortunately, this creature brutally killed him. I would like to see the video. Steve was an interesting guy but he was living on the wild side pun unintended and it is what it is.

Stingrays are beautiful creatures, I spotted one in the bed of shallow waters in the Indian ocean in the Maldives. It is truly a nice and useful piece of information. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing. I am regular reader, how are you everybody? This piece of writing posted at this web page is truly good. Just from reading some of these comments, too many people are ignorant Of the facts. Only the cameraman was there, and he witnessed a freak accident not caused by harassing the stingray.

Steve was a conservationist who tried to teach people about nature. Without people like him and now his family we would have even more ignorance than is being demonstrated by a few here. I love that guy he was an amazing show me a naturally good with animals. He truly lived balls out awesome and I admire him for it. Any of us should be so lucky. I just got stung by a ray walking in thigh deep water in Southern California about to paddle out for a surf.

A different kind of ray than killed Steve E. My wound is very close to a vein and made me think of Steve. Or saving their lives and preparing them for release into their natural habitat as harassing behavior BUT I gained knowledge from him He missed But his family has carried on his dream. No disrespect to his family, but I also did not like the way it appeared he harrassed wildlife. Of course there is the other side, that maybe he got people interested in conservation after watching his episodes, but I am not sure.

I feel like it was more for entertainment value. Steve Irwin tested the patience of every animal he encountered then just one had enough. Just desserts seconded. Your email address will not be published. Previous Search. Adam T. A stingray off the coast of Florida. Related Posts. Filed To animals education Ever Wondered? Share Facebook Twitter Email. September 12, at pm. Stingrays are considered by most experts to be docile creatures, only attacking in self-defense. Most stingray-related injuries to humans occur to the ankles and lower legs, when someone accidentally steps on a ray buried in the sand and the frightened fish flips up its dangerous tail.

Officials are calling the Florida incident a totally freak occurrence. In the early stages of examining the Steve Irwin accident, some experts have hypothesized that the combined positions of Irwin above the fish and his cameraman in front of the fish could have made the stingray feel trapped and triggered a defensive attack; others point out that completely unprovoked stingray attacks are not unheard of.

Stingray-related fatalities in humans are extremely rare, partly because a stingray's venom, while extraordinarily painful, isn't usually deadly -- unless the initial strike is to the chest or abdominal area.

In Irwin's case, the barb actually pierced his heart. James Bertakis was also stabbed in the chest, and possibly in the heart, but he did not attempt to remove it, which could prove to be part of the reason he survived the attack.

News agencies have reported that Irwin's encounter was with an Australian bull ray, estimated to weigh about pounds kg.

Irwin was snorkeling in about 6 feet 2 meters of water, filming a new documentary titled "Ocean's Deadliest" off the coast of Australia.

Irwin was swimming with one of the larger species of rays out there -- Australian bull rays can be up to 4 feet 1. The mechanism is called a sting , up to 8 inches 20 cm long in a bull ray, located near the base of the tail. The sting contains a sharp spine with serrated edges, or barbs , that face the body of the fish.

There is a venom gland at the base of the spine and a membrane-like sheath that covers the entire sting mechanism. When a stingray attacks, it needs to be facing its victim, because all it does is flip its long tail upward over its body so it strikes whatever is in front of it.

The ray doesn't have direct control over the sting mechanism, only over the tail. In most cases, when the sting enters a person's body, the pressure causes the protective sheath to tear.

When the sheath tears, the sharp, serrated edges of the spine sink in and venom flows into the wound. It's composed of the enzymes 5-nucleotidase and phosphodiesterase and the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin causes smooth muscle to severely contract, and it is this component that makes the venom so painful.