The Lost Scarlet Harlequin Toad: A Journey Into Biocultural Memory

High in the cloud forests of the Venezuelan Andes, near the city of Mérida, flashes of bright orange once adorned the waters flowing down the mountains. These tiny bursts of color remain vivid in the memories of older generations, symbols of the delicate balance between people and nature.

It has now been 30 years since the Scarlet Harlequin Toad (Atelopus sorianoi), a striking orange jewel among the vibrant family of harlequin toads, was last seen. Known from just a single stream in the Andes Mountains, this little flashy frog is one of Re:wild’s “most wanted” by the Search for Lost Species. 

In the mid-1980s, entire species of harlequin toads started vanishing from a deadly infectious disease called chytridiomycosis that swept across Central and South America. Since the early 2000s, roughly 40% of harlequin species species have disappeared from their known habitats.

Dedicated efforts are underway to bring back these 'Jewels of the Neotropics.' In Venezuela, the Atelopus Venezuela Working Group—part of the Atelopus Survival Initiative—is striving to rediscover the Scarlet Harlequin Toad and other lost harlequin toad species. Integrating science, participatory education, and collective memory, the group aims to not only find these elusive amphibians but also to rekindle the connection between local communities and their natural heritage.

In search of Ranita Naranja

Since 2020, Atelopus Venezuela has been engaged in the complex, long-term work of conserving harlequin toads and using the species to reawaken the deep ties between local people, ancestral culture, and biodiversity.

The key players in these expeditions to find some of Venezuela’s long-lost amphibians? Primary school students.

Coordinating Atelopus Venezuela is ecologist Francisco Nava from the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research. Nava has dedicated the past 17 years to studying the harlequin toad genus in Venezuela.

Ecologist Francisco Nava and students from Mérida search the streams of the Venezuelan Andes for the long-lost Scarlet Harlequin Toad.

Nava explains that in addition to the project’s rigorous scientific approach, a fundamental component of Atelopus Venezuela’s multidisciplinary work is sparking creativity and collaboration in the region’s younger generation. Through murals and short, student-produced documentary films, Atelopus Venezuela invites students to explore the relationship between humans and nature while delving into the world of vanished harlequin toads.

In Mérida, the territory of the long-lost Scarlet Harlequin Toad, students from the Ángel Antonio Altuve Manrique El Hato school created a sixteen-minute documentary investigating its decades-long disappearance: In Search of the Orange Harlequin: to Save Our Ecosystem.

Combining drawings and interviews with older community members, the film investigates what might have happened to the Scarlet Harlequin Toad and its greater ecosystem.

In it, elders recall a time when they once spotted the "Ranita Naranja" (little orange frog) in abundance and how human impact like deforestation has shaped the land, species, and watersheds. Older generations shared memories of flowing streams shaded by the forest’s trees and filled with the sound of frogs. They told the students how flashes of bright color once painted the forests’ waters—waters critical for sustaining their agricultural livelihoods.

When the Scarlet Harlequin Toad disappeared, its absence was impossible for locals to ignore. For the students in Mérida, the stories of the lost harlequin toads would not only trace the transformation of their local ecosystems but also lead them to rediscover ancient myths woven into their landscapes and heritage.

A young student interviews a community elder, gathering memories of the Scarlet Harlequin Toad and the changing landscape where it once thrived.

“Lost encantos”

In the ancestral heritage of the Venezuelan Andes, "los encantos" refers to enchanted or mystical phenomena tied to specific places, spirits, or natural elements. The Indigenous groups of the Andes, like the Cuicas from the mountainous areas of Mérida, held manifestations and myths of the sacred, often connected to their relationship with the natural world.

Another group of students, this time from the neighboring Bolivariana La Mucuy Baja school in Mérida, created their own documentary in search of the lost Rednose Harlequin Toad. Along the way, they learned of the ancient forest spirits known as Los Cheses. Walking the streams and pathways alongside members of the Atelopus Venezuela team, the students offered fruits to these mythical beings, seeking their help in finding the elusive harlequin toad. Moments like these form the foundation of Atelopus Venezuela’s mission: reawakening a connection to a lineage of wisdom, mythology, and a deep, spiritual respect for the natural world.

Biocultural memory

At the heart of Atelopus Venezuela’s work is the aim to: restore biocultural memory.

Biocultural memory is the deeply intertwined ecological and cultural traditions, stories, rituals, and practices passed down through generations.

“We recognize biocultural memory as the coevolutionary history between humans and the biodiversity that has surrounded us for thousands of years,” Nava says.

“’This relationship contains the knowledge, beliefs, and practices that sustain the balance between humans and nature. Our emphasis is on re-valuing this, as a counterpoint to the ecologically destructive culture of modern society.”

For Dinora Sánchez, Nava’s colleague at Atelopus Venezuela and researcher at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research, tackling the complex challenge of restoring local stories, traditions, and intergenerational knowledge requires a holistic approach.

“Culture is a fundamental part of biodiversity conservation,” she says. “It is inseparable.”

Sánchez explains that Atelopus Venezuela is guided by a specific methodology their team developed, inspired by a lineage of Latin American educators and philosophers.

Drawing from figures like Simon Bolivar’s mentor, Simón Rodríguez, and Brazil’s Paulo Freire, Atelopus Venezuela works at the intersections of education, art, social justice, biodiversity, and cultural heritage. Employing Educación Popular (popular education) and Ecologismo Popular (popular environmentalism), Atelopus Venezuela uses participatory learning—like co-creating films—to revitalize a deeper connection with ancestral knowledge and biodiversity.

What exactly does revitalizing biocultural memory look like? For the students who created In Search of the Orange Harlequin: to Save Our Ecosystem, it was listening to their elders share the ritual of “planting” or “sowing” water. Explaining the ritual of caring for the water passed down from their ancestors, these older community members expressed their spiritual relationship with Mother Nature and a deep knowledge that everything is life. Through the ritual, students witness an ancient culture that respects and cares for nature, forming a link between previous generations and today.

A spiritual leader guides students in the traditional ritual of "sowing water," reviving biocultural memory and deepening their connection with nature.

Weaving new stories from the old

To date, the students working with Atelopus Venezuela have produced six documentaries.

Nava even shares that students from the Ángel Antonio Altuve Manrique El Hato school have written and composed a rap that not only summarizes their research findings but also captures larger stories of their territory. For Nava and the team, this creative expression drawn from memory is proof that their efforts to reactivate biocultural memory are beginning to show results.

As students weave connections between their ecosystems and generational wisdom, harlequin toads become more than a lost species. While the Scarlet Harlequin Toad remains lost, the younger generation of Mérida grows closer each day to the living memory of their elders, their ancestral heritage, and their unique local biodiversity. In the mountainous streams of their homeland, they are weaving new stories from the old, becoming stewards of a nature they now know and are connected to.

The Search for Lost Species is supported by the Colossal Foundation

Text written by Laura Moreno, Re:wild writer All pictures by Atelopus Venezuela Working Group