BEFORE THE INSTITUTE · THE LINEAGE
No institution built this. Keepers did.
Lifetimes of fieldwork, breeding, and sacrifice — the standards, the breakthroughs, the entire modern field. They made it with their hands. We exist to make sure it outlasts them.
ROSS ALLEN
Ross Allen's Reptile Institute · Silver Springs, FL
BILL HAAST
Miami Serpentarium · venom pioneer
BOB IRWIN
Australia Zoo founder · Steve Irwin's father
LYN IRWIN
Australia Zoo co-founder · Steve Irwin's mother
GEORGE VAN HORN
Reptile World Serpentarium · St. Cloud, FL
TOM CRUTCHFIELD
Breeder & exporter · Florida
STEVE IRWIN
Australia Zoo · in memoriam
BOB CLARK
Bob Clark Reptiles · Oklahoma City, OK
TY PARK
Iguanaland · Punta Gorda, FL
ROBERT APPLEGATE
Applegate Reptiles · kingsnakes & beaded lizards
WES MANION
Australia Zoo · keeper & croc-team
KEVIN McCURLEY
New England Reptile Distributors · Plaistow, NH
JEFF CORWIN
Conservationist & broadcaster · Animal Planet
BRADY BARR
National Geographic · herpetologist
MICHAEL WILBANKS
Constrictors Unlimited · breeder & educator
TERRI IRWIN
Australia Zoo · conservationist
BRYAN FRY
Venom science · University of Queensland
CARL BARDEN
Medtoxin Venom Laboratories · DeLand, FL
STEVE ANGELI
Heloderma Angeli · venomous & beaded lizards
BRIAN COULTER
Wildlife keeper · croc-team
TOBY MILLYARD
Australia Zoo · keeper & croc team
KELSEY ENGLE
Keeper & educator · former Curator of Australia Zoo
STACY CRUTCHFIELD
Keeper, educator & conservationist · Florida
Reptile history has never been formally recorded — it's scattered across decades, countries, and memories, and we're still compiling it every single day. If you're not here and you should be, or you feel someone is missing, that's no judgment — it's just how fragmented this history is. It's a part of why we're doing this. Someone missing? Tell us →