Starry Night Toad
Often when we talk about a “lost” species, we mean a species lost to Western academic science, thereby overlooking what may be common knowledge to locals. When the coelacanth was “rediscovered,” it was already known as an occasional catch by local fishermen, who knew the fish as the “mame” or “Gombessa,” a weird sort of grouper that would get mixed up in the daily haul.
The high-altitude starry night harlequin toad was never extinct to the indigenous Arhuaco community in Sogrome, Colombia. The toad—the local name of which National Geographic reports also corresponds to the splendorous night sky—is critically endangered, and the Arhuaco have a reverent relationship with the amphibian, whose calls they listen to for spiritual purposes. Now, conservation efforts are focusing on the speckled toad, in hopes of ensuring its continued survival.
