The crocodile hunter is dead, long live the crocodile hunter.

Steve Irwin, the ebullient Australian TV personality and conservationist known as the Crocodile Hunter, was killed by a stingray barb to the heart during a diving expedition, police and his wildlife park said. Irwin, 44, was filming an underwater sequence for a television series on remote Batt Reef off the far northeast coast of Australia when he encountered the ray and was stung about 11 a.m. (0630 IST), Australia Zoo, Irwin's park, said in a statement. - more