4. Irwin was diving that day filming for his new show. The team’s focus was the deadly tiger shark. After failing to find it, Irwin instead turned to the nearly two-and-a-half-foot giant ray to film it for another project he was working on. Steve Irwin swam above stingrays, which are normally harmless in most cases. At one point, a stingray pierced his chest with a barb, apparently thinking it was a shark.
5. Stingrays normally use the spines, which are actually three poisonous spinal blades in the tail, as a defense mechanism when someone threatens them or when they are stepped on. The stingray pierced his chest with a barb and stabbed the poisonous spike directly into his heart.
