Ensil Ross Allen (January 2, 1908 – May 17, 1981) was an American herpetologist and writer who was based in Silver Springs, Florida for 46 years, where he established the Reptile Institute.

As a young man, Allen made a hobby of capturing turtles, snakes and other reptiles near his home in central Florida.

[3][4] He developed it into a 10-acre center for research, as well as of entertainment, staging reptile demonstrations, including alligator wrestling and rattlesnake milking.

Along with the Ross Allen Reptile Institute, there were several other shops and stores, including the famous striped awning "beach cabanas" which could be rented while swimming at the Springs, and the Bath House, which sold Esther Williams bathing suits among other things and was visited by Ms. Williams several times, run by Bobbe Arnst, who was Johnny Weismueller's ("Tarzan") first wife.

[2] Because of his experience in handling animals, Allen was featured in numerous film shorts and newsreel clips, including the Ted Husing-narrated Catching Trouble (1936), which gained later notoriety from its inclusion in a 1991 episode of the television comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000, where he is shown chasing, tackling, and dragging bear cubs away for shipment to zoo exhibits in Chicago.

[7][8] He also served as stuntman and reptile handler on several movies that were filmed in Silver Springs, including Tarzan Finds a Son!

He kept graphic photographs of the healing of his own hand on display at the institute as a warning to children and adults about the severity of venomous snake bites.