Robert Irwin looks identical to his late father Steve Irwin in beautiful tribute photo

Robert Irwin looks the double of his late father Steve Irwin in a picture of them feeding the same crocodile 15 years apart.

The Australian zookeeper and television personality passed away at the age of 44 in 2006 when he was stabbed in the heart by a stingray whilst filming a documentary, and his 15-year-old son has shared two images of the pair throwing meat into giant croc Murray's mouth as spectators looked on in the same place.

Robert captioned the Instagram post: "Dad and me feeding Murray... same place, same croc - two photos 15 years apart (sic)"

Robert and his sister Bini Irwin's mother, Terri Irwin, added to the post: "Steve's mission is in good hands."

The family have continued the late Crocodile Hunter's conservation work ever since he passed away.

Bindi, 20, previously admitted she hopes Steve would be pleased with the progress they are making.

Speaking an episode of their reality show Crikey! It's the Irwins, Bindi said last year: "I think that maybe Dad might be out there somewhere, smiling, going, 'You beauty. You're using the boat. I hope he'd be proud of us and I hope he'd be happy to see all the wonderful turtle releases we've done."

The episode showed Bindi and her mother releasing a turtle named Eurong back into the ocean, whilst Robert headed into the water with his camera equipment to film the occasion.

Bindi added: "This is the most important part of our lives. Months of work has gone into protecting this beautiful little life, and to come to the moment to release Eurong back to the wild. This is what we live for.

"It's such a special moment for us as a family. This is what we love. It's what we do. It's who we are. And we will work to the best of our ability to be able to release every single animal back out into the wild."

Steve's eldest child was just eight years old when her dad died, and she recently admitted it has been "scary" going into "unknown territory" without a father figure, and that it felt right" to film because she was "used" to being in front of the camera, and has helped her feel more comfortable since Steve's death.

She said: "It just feels right. I know when Dad passed away, it was a really challenging time and I was quite little. I was really, really young and when you're at that age, everything's a little scary and unknown territory and we're all dealing with grief and I remember saying to my mom, 'When can we start filming again?' Because it was something that I knew and I was used to.

- Bang! Showbiz