GERALD KEOWN - A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

Gerald Keown was born and raised in the brush country of South Texas. Although his lifelong vocation has been law enforcement, his avocation for the past 50+ years has been herpetology. In addition to his herpetological interests, he is also a wildlife photographer whose work has been published in numerous outdoor and hunting publications.

Gerald Keown in 2006 - Photo by Susan Keown

Back in 1955, on his 10th birthday Gerald was given a paperback copy of the Golden Nature Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians by Herbert Zim and Hobart Smith and thereafter his family found him spending all his spare time at the neighborhood ponds and creeks collecting ribbon snakes, leopard frogs, tiger salamanders, assorted lizards and turtles. He was 12 years old when the first edition of Roger Conant's A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians was published and Gerald quickly obtained a copy. In fact, today that well-worn old book still has a place on his bookshelf. By this time Gerald had developed a serious interest in reptiles and amphibians and that interest has remained over the years. According to some of his family, "That's the part of the boy in him that never grew up." In both 1960 and 1961 Gerald won first place in the biology division his high school's science fair for his continuing efforts in surveying and identifying the reptiles and amphibians that occured in Jim Wells County, Texas. Having little formal training in the field, other than a single college herpetology course, most of his knowledge relating to reptiles and amphibians has been self-taught. He has had papers and notes published in Herpetologica, Journal of Herpetology, Herpetological Review, and Captive Breeding in addition to several regional publications. Gerald's primary interest has always been the herptofauna of of the Southwestern United States and Mexico. During his life, he has spent many days and nights in the field throughout the South

This is where  it  all  started.   In 1960,  14 year-old high school freshman Gerald Keown won first place in  the biology  division of his  local science fair  for his ongoing work  surveying the  species of reptiles and amphibians native to Jim Wells County, Texas. Photo Courtesy of Alice Daily Echo-News Archives

Texas brush country and the Trans-Pecos region of Texas. During the 1970s he obtained the necessary permits and made two trips into the interior of Mexico to study, collect and photograph the herpetofauna of that country. Over the years, he has personally collected and/or maintained 45 of the some 84 recognized forms of rattlesnakes (Crotalus and Sistrurus). Currently, his specific herpetological interests are the rattlesnakes (Crotalus and Sistrurus), kingsnakes and milksnakes (Lampropeltis), and rat snakes (Bogertophis, Pantherophis and Senticolis) of the Southwestern U. S. and Mexico. Today, Gerald's  herpetological affiliations  include the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, the Texas Herpetological Society, the Arizona Herpetological Association, the East Texas Herpetological Society, and the West Texas Herpetological Society. He is also a Lifetime Member of Herp Conservation Unlimited. In 2001 he retired after serving over 35 years in Texas law enforcement and spent the next six years near Cody in northwestern Wyoming, where he operated an Internet hosting and web design business. In 2007 he returned to his home state of Texas. He and his wife Susan along with their Siberian Husky 'Bear', and Golden Retreiver 'Lady' currently reside in southcentral Texas where he provides technical and consulting services on herpetological related matters as he continues to pursue his interests in both herpetology and wildlife photography. Since 1997 he and Susan have operated The Venomous Snakes of Texas web site which was originally designed to assist Texas homeowners and outdoorsmen in identifying snakes that they encounter. Over the past few years they found this site growing to include material that went beyond the original scope of The Venomous Snakes of Texas. As a result, in early 2007 the Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research came into being.

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