Animal ambassador conservationists: Bindi Irwin

Bindi, the nature center's mini rex rabbit animal ambassador, is named after Bindi Irwin, daughter of Steve Irwin.

Steve Irwin grew up loving animals in his home of Australia, and his family ran the Beerwah Reptile Park --- later called the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park --- in Beerwah, Queensland.

As an adult, he began working for the government as a crocodile hunter, catching problem crocodiles and developing capture and management techniques that are still used around the world. He and his wife, Terri, filmed a documentary about relocating a problem crocodile, and it was so successful that The Crocodile Hunter TV series was born.

Irwin and his wife worked on improving and expanding Irwin's parents animal park, and they eventually renamed it the Australia Zoo in 1998. It still runs today.

Steve and Terri's daughter, Bindi, was born the same year the Australia Zoo opened, and she grew up loving and working with animals. She was a part of The Crocodile Hunter and also had her own series, Bindi: The Jungle Girl.

Bindi Irwin works at the Australia Zoo and has a program called Wildlife Warrior, in which she and her family share conservation messages to audiences around the world.

Her achievements include:

• Led six-year campaign to prevent bauxite strip mining on the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve
• Received 2014 Australian Geographic Society's Young Conservationist of the Year award
• Won 2015 Queensland's Premier's Sustainability Young Achiever Award
• Campaign to overturn legislation that allows the harvesting of wild crocodile eggs