Robert Irwin’s childhood memory about his late father, Steve Irwin, has gone viral online.
Nicknamed “The Crocodile Hunter,” Steve Irwin was an Australian conservationist and television personality who unexpectedly died following an unprovoked attack by a stingray in 2006. He was survived by his wife, Terri Irwin, and their two children: Robert Irwin, then two years old, and Bindi Irwin, then eight years old.
On Sunday, Robert Irwin took to TikTok, Instagram and X to share an anecdote about his childhood. The video showed the now-21-year-old harvesting food around the Australia Zoo for his lunch, but he said walking wasn’t the most efficient way to get the task done.
“Business is not fast enough for me, so let’s get the motorbike,” Robert Irwin told his followers, before sharing a sweet story about his father. “It’s also very nostalgic, this bike. Dad used to take my sister and I around the zoo. He used to go around, and we’d pick fruit and macadamia nuts.”
Australia Zoo via Getty Images
“As a kid, I used to sneak down here to the sugar cane, just absolutely go to town,” the zookeeper added in the next part of the clip. “Don’t tell my mom.”
Newsweek reached out to Robert Irwin’s representative via email for comment.
At the time of publication, the TikTok video had racked up more than 3.8 million views, the Instagram clip had garnered 1.6 million views and the X post had an additional 168,000 views.
In the comments, fans praised the Australia native and the similarities to his famous father.
“The more you grow up, the more we see your Dad ♥️,” TikTok user @zuzuskonkgonk wrote in a message with more than 16,800 likes.
“Your dad would’ve made this exact same video 😭,” @whitneyjurgelevich added in a separate note with over 8,500 likes.
“Knowing that Robert Irwin enjoys foraging for his own girl dinner brings me a LOT of joy,” Instagram user @dashofjones wrote in a comment with upwards of 3,400 likes.
“Our gardens are magical!” the Australia Zoo’s official Instagram account said.
In an interview on the Enough Rope television series one year after Steve Irwin’s death, Terri Irwin said her husband believed he would die young.
“He wasn’t morbid about it, or awful about it, he was open and earnest about it,” she said in 2007, per Reuters. “We’ve got to accomplish everything we can.”
“Steve had a real sixth sense about so many things. He had an odd connection with wildlife. He was extraordinarily intuitive with people,” she added. “I found it all very, I don’t know if ‘eerie’ is the word, but remarkable, certainly.”
Robert Irwin was previously linked to girlfriend Rorie Buckey, but the pair announced their split last year. Bindi Irwin, meanwhile, is married to husband Chandler Powell and they share one child together, daughter Grace Warrior Irwin Powell.