Sean McKeown was a herpetologist

Herpetology

Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles...

 in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, USA.

Education

Sean McKeown was born in Southern California. He held degrees in zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

 and anthropology

Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...

 from California State University

California State University

The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...

.

Career

McKeown worked as a supervising herpetologist at the Honolulu Zoo

Honolulu Zoo

The Honolulu Zoo is a zoo located in Queen Kapiolani Park in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. It is the only zoo in the United States to be established by grants made by a sovereign monarch, and is built on part of the royal Queen Kapiolani Park. The Honolulu Zoo now features over 1,230 animals in...

 during the 1970s and early 1980s. During this time, he developed a number of breeding programs for some lizard

Lizard

Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...

 and tortoise

Tortoise

Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...

 species. For his commitment to captive breeding the Madagascar angulated tortoise

Angonoka

The angonoka tortoise is a critically endangered species of tortoise endemic to Madagascar. It is also known as the angonoka, ploughshare tortoise, Madagascar tortoise, or Madagascar angulated tortoise....

 (Geochelone yniphora), McKeown received the AAZPA conservation award. McKeown received zoo awards for being the first to breed Madagascar ploughshare tortoises. He also administered the first long-term breeding program for the Madagascar ground boas.

McKeown undertook field work for the wildlife departments of Aruba

Aruba

Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, the Seychelles

Seychelles

Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....

, Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

, Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, and Guam

Guam

Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...

.

He was curator at the herpetarium at Chaffee Zoological Gardens in Fresno, California

Fresno, California

Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...

. McKeown published frequently on diverse herpetological topics and was managing editor of The Vivarium magazine.

Works

• A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of the Hawaiian Islands, Diamond Head Publishing, Inc., Los Osos, California ISBN 0-9650731-0-6.
• The general care and maintenance of day geckos, Advanced Vivarium Systems, 1993, Lakeside CA.