when i take my nephews to the aquarium where i live, they are allowed to put shrimp on a stick and let the stingray eat it. is this the same kind of stingray that can cause death? i would like the species and educated people to answer.
Answers:
It is the same kind of stingray that can cause death. the staff at the aquariums trim the barb before they put the stingray in the water. the children are always feeding the stingray at certain times of the day. a full belly helps prevent the stingray from using the barb. out in the wild like where steve was was a dangerous place to film a documentary. he was on a reef in austrailia. i would assume that there are sharks looking for stingrays to eat. that is when the stingray use their barb. to fend off sharks. or when they are hungry. if he was in an aquarium, he probably would have been luckier.
The stingrays that people can touch and interact with at zoos and aquariums have had their barbs removed. Their venom is mild anyway. They are not aggressive animals, and people are usually stung while stepping on them in the water, of course, if you get a 10 inch barb in the heart, like Steve Irwin, that will kill you, but if you get a 10 inch anything in the heart, that's fatal, too. Don't worry about the little ones in the zoos, they are actually very affectionate and love to interact with humans. You have a greater chance of getting E.Coli or Salmonella at a petting zoo, than you do being killed by anything at an aquarium.
It was a Stingray Barb or "Dasyatidae" that killed Steve Irvin.
Really, it was a fluke that Steve actually died from this, because:
Dasyatids generally do not attack aggressively, or even actively defend themselves. When threatened, their primary reaction is to swim away. However, when they are attacked by predators or stepped on, the barbed stinger in their tail is mechanically whipped up. This attack is normally ineffective against their main predator: sharks. Humans are usually stung in the foot; it is also possible, although less likely, to be stung by brushing against the stinger. Contact with the stinger causes local trauma (from the cut itself), pain and swelling from the venom, and possible infection from parts of the stinger left in the wound. Injuries to humans include, but are not limited to: poisoning, punctures, severed arteries and possible death. Fatal stings, such as that which killed Australian naturalist and television personality Steve Irwin, a much loved animal documentarian, in 2006, are extremely rare. (As of 1996, worldwide known deaths from stingray barb injuries numbered 17.) As of 2001 there has been only one person documented to have survived a stingray injury to the heart. Also, in case of Irwin, it was the site of injury (the heart) and the wound that proved to be fatal, and the not the venom of the stingray.
I'm sure that your nephew and you will be just fine at the aquarium and that they will exercise every caution in keeping the both of you safe.
If your that worried dont let your nephew feed them.
i was never told the exact species if stingray that killed the guy, i really feel for him, but i think you have more of a chance getting into a koolaid induced coma that getting stung by one at the aquarium. they make sure that the stingrays are trimmed alot, they dont need a lawsuit to take them down, so i see anything that the aquarium can have asfar as interactive learning stuff is %99 physically harmless, unless you trip and fall down some concrete stairs or fall on a buff handicaped person, other than that, the place is safe, the government doesnt like fun to come at a cost of safty, just look at the airline super bomb detection system, no fun there!
The stingray that killed Steve was a large Bull Ray. He was swimming beside it while his cameraman was ahead of it. It became frightened and reacted with a defensive action. I can just hear Steve saying "It was all my fault mate! Don't blame the ray!" Less than 20 people have EVER been killed by stingrays. There aren't any that are more dangerous than others. It was a freak accident that it's stinger went right in his heart. Stings from stingrays, while painful, are almost never fatal.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment