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The Golden Toad: An Ecological Mystery and the Search for a Lost Species
The Costa Rican cloud forest, a mysterious amphibian killer, and a vanished species: with support from Re:wild campaign, twin brothers follow their father’s footsteps into the heart of the modern extinction crisis.
As young boys, Trevor and Kyle Ritland were fascinated by the magnificent golden toad of Costa Rica, a brilliant species their biologist father showed them in his projector’s slideshows. Native to only one wind-battered ridgeline high on the continental divide above the cloud forests of Monteverde, thousands of golden toads would congregate for a few weeks each year in ephemeral pools among the twisted roots to mate, deposit their offspring, and retreat again beneath the earth. But from one year to the next, the toads disappeared without a trace; the last of them vanished more than thirty years ago. Since then, only rumors remain—alleged sightings by local residents, which beg the question: Could the golden toad still be alive?
In The Golden Toad, Trevor and Kyle set off to investigate an environmental mystery with unexpected revelations, a story that speaks to our own collective and uncertain future. Guided by Costa Rican naturalists—including the last person to have seen the golden toad alive—Trevor searches for survivors while Kyle hunts the killer. Their paths lead them through an imperiled forest, a deadly pandemic, and a changing climate, finally intertwining at the site of the golden toad’s last emergence deep in Monteverde’s Bosque Eterno de Los Niños.
The toad’s demise becomes a haunting foretelling of approaching ecological crises, but with a gold lining on the horizon. The Golden Toad changes the conversation around extinction, climate change, and conservation while exploring environmental grief, resurrection, and hope in a changing world.
As young boys, Trevor and Kyle Ritland were fascinated by the magnificent golden toad of Costa Rica, a brilliant species their biologist father showed them in his projector’s slideshows. Native to only one wind-battered ridgeline high on the continental divide above the cloud forests of Monteverde, thousands of golden toads would congregate for a few weeks each year in ephemeral pools among the twisted roots to mate, deposit their offspring, and retreat again beneath the earth. But from one year to the next, the toads disappeared without a trace; the last of them vanished more than thirty years ago. Since then, only rumors remain—alleged sightings by local residents, which beg the question: Could the golden toad still be alive?
In The Golden Toad, Trevor and Kyle set off to investigate an environmental mystery with unexpected revelations, a story that speaks to our own collective and uncertain future. Guided by Costa Rican naturalists—including the last person to have seen the golden toad alive—Trevor searches for survivors while Kyle hunts the killer. Their paths lead them through an imperiled forest, a deadly pandemic, and a changing climate, finally intertwining at the site of the golden toad’s last emergence deep in Monteverde’s Bosque Eterno de Los Niños.
The toad’s demise becomes a haunting foretelling of approaching ecological crises, but with a gold lining on the horizon. The Golden Toad changes the conversation around extinction, climate change, and conservation while exploring environmental grief, resurrection, and hope in a changing world.
363 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 17, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 18, 2025
Review: The Golden Toad: An Ecological Mystery and the Search for a Lost Species by Trevor Ritland & Kyle Ritland
🌿 Overview
The Golden Toad is a haunting yet hopeful exploration of one of ecology’s most enigmatic disappearances. Blending memoir, scientific investigation, and environmental advocacy, the Ritland brothers craft a compelling narrative about the sudden extinction of Costa Rica’s golden toad—a vibrant amphibian that vanished in the late 1980s, leaving behind unanswered questions and urgent lessons about biodiversity loss.
🔍 Key Strengths
🐸 Science Meets Storytelling – The authors balance rigorous research with vivid, almost lyrical prose, making complex ecological concepts accessible without sacrificing depth.
🌎 Global Implications – Though focused on a single species, the book illuminates broader themes of climate change, habitat destruction, and humanity’s role in extinction events.
🔬 Detective Narrative – The search for answers unfolds like a mystery, with twists involving fungal pathogens, shifting weather patterns, and scientific debates.
💚 Personal Connection – The Ritlands’ passion for conservation shines through, blending their professional expertise with a deeply human reverence for nature.
⚠️ Considerations
📉 Niche Appeal – Readers unfamiliar with conservation biology might find some sections dense.
🔄 Repetition – A few concepts are revisited multiple times, slightly slowing momentum.
😢 Emotional Weight – The inevitability of the toad’s fate lends a melancholic tone—more cautionary tale than uplifting call to action.
⭐ Score Breakdown (0–5 Stars)
🔎 Research & Accuracy → ★★★★★ (5/5)
📖 Narrative Flow → ★★★★☆ (4/5)
💡 Originality → ★★★★☆ (4.5/5)
🌱 Emotional Impact → ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Overall: ★★★★☆ (4.5/5)
A gilded elegy for a lost species—and a mirror held to our own fragile world.
🎯 Perfect For Readers Who Love
🐍 The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
🌳 Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
🔍 Investigative nature writing like The Hidden Life of Trees
🙏 Gratitude
Thank you to NetGalley and the authors, Trevor Ritland & Kyle Ritland, for the advance review copy. This book is a poignant reminder of what we’ve lost—and what we might still save.
(Note: Review based on an uncorrected proof; final publication may vary.)
🌿 Overview
The Golden Toad is a haunting yet hopeful exploration of one of ecology’s most enigmatic disappearances. Blending memoir, scientific investigation, and environmental advocacy, the Ritland brothers craft a compelling narrative about the sudden extinction of Costa Rica’s golden toad—a vibrant amphibian that vanished in the late 1980s, leaving behind unanswered questions and urgent lessons about biodiversity loss.
🔍 Key Strengths
🐸 Science Meets Storytelling – The authors balance rigorous research with vivid, almost lyrical prose, making complex ecological concepts accessible without sacrificing depth.
🌎 Global Implications – Though focused on a single species, the book illuminates broader themes of climate change, habitat destruction, and humanity’s role in extinction events.
🔬 Detective Narrative – The search for answers unfolds like a mystery, with twists involving fungal pathogens, shifting weather patterns, and scientific debates.
💚 Personal Connection – The Ritlands’ passion for conservation shines through, blending their professional expertise with a deeply human reverence for nature.
⚠️ Considerations
📉 Niche Appeal – Readers unfamiliar with conservation biology might find some sections dense.
🔄 Repetition – A few concepts are revisited multiple times, slightly slowing momentum.
😢 Emotional Weight – The inevitability of the toad’s fate lends a melancholic tone—more cautionary tale than uplifting call to action.
⭐ Score Breakdown (0–5 Stars)
🔎 Research & Accuracy → ★★★★★ (5/5)
📖 Narrative Flow → ★★★★☆ (4/5)
💡 Originality → ★★★★☆ (4.5/5)
🌱 Emotional Impact → ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Overall: ★★★★☆ (4.5/5)
A gilded elegy for a lost species—and a mirror held to our own fragile world.
🎯 Perfect For Readers Who Love
🐍 The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
🌳 Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
🔍 Investigative nature writing like The Hidden Life of Trees
🙏 Gratitude
Thank you to NetGalley and the authors, Trevor Ritland & Kyle Ritland, for the advance review copy. This book is a poignant reminder of what we’ve lost—and what we might still save.
(Note: Review based on an uncorrected proof; final publication may vary.)
October 14, 2025
Refreshing to read an ecological story that offers hope. Loved the adventure of the expeditions and the drama of the prose.
July 5, 2025
Real Rating: 4.5* of five
The Publisher Says: The Costa Rican cloud forest, a mysterious amphibian killer, and a vanished species: with support from Re:wild campaign, twin brothers follow their father’s footsteps into the heart of the modern extinction crisis.
As young boys, Trevor and Kyle Ritland were fascinated by the magnificent golden toad of Costa Rica, a brilliant species their biologist father showed them in his projector’s slideshows. Native to only one wind-battered ridgeline high on the continental divide above the cloud forests of Monteverde, thousands of golden toads would congregate for a few weeks each year in ephemeral pools among the twisted roots to mate, deposit their offspring, and retreat again beneath the earth. But from one year to the next, the toads disappeared without a trace; the last of them vanished more than thirty years ago. Since then, only rumors remain—alleged sightings by local residents, which beg the question: Could the golden toad still be alive?
In The Golden Toad, Trevor and Kyle set off to investigate an environmental mystery with unexpected revelations, a story that speaks to our own collective and uncertain future. Guided by Costa Rican naturalists—including the last person to have seen the golden toad alive—Trevor searches for survivors while Kyle hunts the killer. Their paths lead them through an imperiled forest, a deadly pandemic, and a changing climate, finally intertwining at the site of the golden toad’s last emergence deep in Monteverde’s Bosque Eterno de Los Niños.
The toad’s demise becomes a haunting foretelling of approaching ecological crises, but with a gold lining on the horizon. The Golden Toad changes the conversation around extinction, climate change, and conservation while exploring environmental grief, resurrection, and hope in a changing world.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: If a conversation ever needed changing towards hope in dark times, it's the one around the worldwide amphibian extinction. In point of fact there aren't too many subjects that we do not need to find ways of discussing that include hope, hopefulness at the minimum.
The Ritland siblings found a way to do that. They have not found any surviving populations of the golden toad, but they have contributed a lot to the information store about the fungal enemy of amphibiankind that is globally decimating the world's population of all amphibians.
A family inheritance of curiosity and wanderlust, plus a strong grounding in biology and science more generally, sent this pair to a global biodiversity hotspot, Costa Rica, to do anything they can for the decades-missing golden toad. I know the story here is factual but it reads like a fictional adventure. The men are the kind of competent and driven people that make compelling reading; they are traveling in a landscape so replete with unique life as to be alien to sedentary US readers; and they encounter so many people intent on their own business who either help the men in their quest *because* of the quest, or in spite of it, or try to influence them away from their golden-toad search. It's a bit, well, repetitious at times. I don't think that's surprising at all. There is a great deal of information important to understanding the way things need to unfold to accomplish the needed tasks. It naturally will require periodic refreshers of facts readers most likely won't have fresh in their minds.
Still takes time and energy out of what was from the start a very propulsive narrative style, so I can't honestly award a fifth star to the reading experience. As a story told, it gets all five stars, however, so that explains the compromise half-star I polished up for the Ritlands.
Batrachochytrium dedrobatidis is a terrible, fatal scourge, one unleashed in its scope of havoc-wreaking by our changing climate. Anyone who contributes to the knowledge base regarding it, its impacts, and ultimately the ways and means of its future control or eradication, should be celebrated and praised. The Ritlands are large figures in this world-wide effort. Please help celebrate their passion and their contribution. Get a copy, give a copy, read a copy. It's definitely not time wasted.
The Publisher Says: The Costa Rican cloud forest, a mysterious amphibian killer, and a vanished species: with support from Re:wild campaign, twin brothers follow their father’s footsteps into the heart of the modern extinction crisis.
As young boys, Trevor and Kyle Ritland were fascinated by the magnificent golden toad of Costa Rica, a brilliant species their biologist father showed them in his projector’s slideshows. Native to only one wind-battered ridgeline high on the continental divide above the cloud forests of Monteverde, thousands of golden toads would congregate for a few weeks each year in ephemeral pools among the twisted roots to mate, deposit their offspring, and retreat again beneath the earth. But from one year to the next, the toads disappeared without a trace; the last of them vanished more than thirty years ago. Since then, only rumors remain—alleged sightings by local residents, which beg the question: Could the golden toad still be alive?
In The Golden Toad, Trevor and Kyle set off to investigate an environmental mystery with unexpected revelations, a story that speaks to our own collective and uncertain future. Guided by Costa Rican naturalists—including the last person to have seen the golden toad alive—Trevor searches for survivors while Kyle hunts the killer. Their paths lead them through an imperiled forest, a deadly pandemic, and a changing climate, finally intertwining at the site of the golden toad’s last emergence deep in Monteverde’s Bosque Eterno de Los Niños.
The toad’s demise becomes a haunting foretelling of approaching ecological crises, but with a gold lining on the horizon. The Golden Toad changes the conversation around extinction, climate change, and conservation while exploring environmental grief, resurrection, and hope in a changing world.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: If a conversation ever needed changing towards hope in dark times, it's the one around the worldwide amphibian extinction. In point of fact there aren't too many subjects that we do not need to find ways of discussing that include hope, hopefulness at the minimum.
The Ritland siblings found a way to do that. They have not found any surviving populations of the golden toad, but they have contributed a lot to the information store about the fungal enemy of amphibiankind that is globally decimating the world's population of all amphibians.
A family inheritance of curiosity and wanderlust, plus a strong grounding in biology and science more generally, sent this pair to a global biodiversity hotspot, Costa Rica, to do anything they can for the decades-missing golden toad. I know the story here is factual but it reads like a fictional adventure. The men are the kind of competent and driven people that make compelling reading; they are traveling in a landscape so replete with unique life as to be alien to sedentary US readers; and they encounter so many people intent on their own business who either help the men in their quest *because* of the quest, or in spite of it, or try to influence them away from their golden-toad search. It's a bit, well, repetitious at times. I don't think that's surprising at all. There is a great deal of information important to understanding the way things need to unfold to accomplish the needed tasks. It naturally will require periodic refreshers of facts readers most likely won't have fresh in their minds.
Still takes time and energy out of what was from the start a very propulsive narrative style, so I can't honestly award a fifth star to the reading experience. As a story told, it gets all five stars, however, so that explains the compromise half-star I polished up for the Ritlands.
Batrachochytrium dedrobatidis is a terrible, fatal scourge, one unleashed in its scope of havoc-wreaking by our changing climate. Anyone who contributes to the knowledge base regarding it, its impacts, and ultimately the ways and means of its future control or eradication, should be celebrated and praised. The Ritlands are large figures in this world-wide effort. Please help celebrate their passion and their contribution. Get a copy, give a copy, read a copy. It's definitely not time wasted.
June 23, 2025
Trevor and Kyle Ritland grew up listening to their father's stories of the many magical animals of Costa Rica, including the striking Golden Toad which inhabits the cloud forests of Monteverde on the continental divide. The little toads, which only come out from underground a few weeks a year to mate, entranced the brothers. By the time the brothers make it to Costa Rica for themselves, the Golden Toad population has steadily decreased and they are now believed to be extinct. In The Golden Toad, the Ritland's dive into the natural history of the Golden Toads, the first known sightings to their last, detailing their personal journey to find the Golden Toads again and the factors that have contributed to their disappearance.
"The Golden Toad" is an ecological mystery that beautifully captures the unique emotions of hope and grief associated with species endangerment and extinction. Despite being a scientific nonfiction book, it reads like an adventure, complete with travel, danger, and intriguing characters. The book highlights how some of the first people to observe the Golden Toads were Quaker settlers in Costa Rica. Word then spread among scientists, drawing them to the cloud forests. By the time a dedicated team of scientists began researching the Golden Toads, their numbers were already shrinking. The Ritlands embark on several treks to locate the toads 30 years after their last reported sighting. The vivid descriptions of Costa Rica's cloud forests truly made me wish I could experience them firsthand. These distinctive micro-ecosystems are biodiversity hotspots, with Costa Rica's cloud forests potentially harboring up to 25% of Earth's biodiversity. The Ritlands skillfully integrate local and Indigenous knowledge in their quest to rediscover this species, which was lost to science but not always to local communities. I particularly enjoyed Eladio's insights into the search for the Golden Toad and what its rediscovery would mean for the forest, as well as his perspective on the forest without the toad. A significant portion of the book focuses on the chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dedrobatidis, which has devastated amphibian populations globally. While chytrid has been found in Costa Rica, the book explores whether it was truly the sole cause of the Golden Toads' disappearance. Although Kyle and Trevor's expeditions may not have uncovered the Golden Toads, their efforts, combined with those of other scientists and citizen scientists worldwide, have significantly contributed to amphibian conservation and the rediscovery of several other species once thought to be lost forever.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
"The Golden Toad" is an ecological mystery that beautifully captures the unique emotions of hope and grief associated with species endangerment and extinction. Despite being a scientific nonfiction book, it reads like an adventure, complete with travel, danger, and intriguing characters. The book highlights how some of the first people to observe the Golden Toads were Quaker settlers in Costa Rica. Word then spread among scientists, drawing them to the cloud forests. By the time a dedicated team of scientists began researching the Golden Toads, their numbers were already shrinking. The Ritlands embark on several treks to locate the toads 30 years after their last reported sighting. The vivid descriptions of Costa Rica's cloud forests truly made me wish I could experience them firsthand. These distinctive micro-ecosystems are biodiversity hotspots, with Costa Rica's cloud forests potentially harboring up to 25% of Earth's biodiversity. The Ritlands skillfully integrate local and Indigenous knowledge in their quest to rediscover this species, which was lost to science but not always to local communities. I particularly enjoyed Eladio's insights into the search for the Golden Toad and what its rediscovery would mean for the forest, as well as his perspective on the forest without the toad. A significant portion of the book focuses on the chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dedrobatidis, which has devastated amphibian populations globally. While chytrid has been found in Costa Rica, the book explores whether it was truly the sole cause of the Golden Toads' disappearance. Although Kyle and Trevor's expeditions may not have uncovered the Golden Toads, their efforts, combined with those of other scientists and citizen scientists worldwide, have significantly contributed to amphibian conservation and the rediscovery of several other species once thought to be lost forever.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
August 17, 2025
My thanks to Goodreads and the authors for an advance copy of this book that mixes classic adventure and arduous expeditions into deep jungles, along with a study on why many species are dying off, and what we as custodians of this planet can do.
There is a lot of talk about AI and of rich people starting over on Mars, which sounds to me like those in power have given up on the people and the planet we all occupy. One can see why. Cities are being flooded, record heat is melting streets in places that never had record heat. One could of course AI for a solution, but it is too busy drying out local water sources, causing towns to have to ration, making pictures of Anime characters in suggestive poses. However, there are people who still care, people who wonder why things are happening, and what they can do about it. Even if it is just stopping the extinction of one species. And what an interesting species it is. The Golden Toad: An Ecological Mystery and the Search for a Lost Species by Trevor Ritland and Kyle Ritland is a mix of classic adventure, along with a study of how ecosystems live and die, and what the future might hold for various species, as we become worse and worse about taking care of our world.
The Ritland brothers grew up in a family fostered interest in the natural world, and even more loved knowledge. And nothing was more interesting than the Golden Toad. First found by Quaker settlers in Costa Rica, these toads spend much time underground, coming to the surface to mate and find food. The toads though were getting harder and harder to find, leading many to wonder if they had gone or were headed for extinction. The Ritlands decided to find out. Leading a few expeditions into the jungles and Continental divide of Costa Rica the brothers split their tasks, one looking for the toads, one trying to figure out why the toads were disappearing, be it man, disease or something else.
A really interesting book, equal parts adventure, a tale of science, and a wake-up call for all of us. There is a real dichotomy in the tale, a bit of Victorian adventure hitting the jungles with a lot of state of the art laboratory work, and scientific thinking. I can see this appealing to a variety of readers. The writing is good, with plenty of oh wow moments, that make a person want to join and expedition. And moments that the reader is glad to be on their couch reading. There is a lot of scientific information, how ecosystems work, disease travel and change, but the book does a good job of explaining all this, and making it clear. A very educational and exciting tale, well told, with lots to think about.
There is a lot of talk about AI and of rich people starting over on Mars, which sounds to me like those in power have given up on the people and the planet we all occupy. One can see why. Cities are being flooded, record heat is melting streets in places that never had record heat. One could of course AI for a solution, but it is too busy drying out local water sources, causing towns to have to ration, making pictures of Anime characters in suggestive poses. However, there are people who still care, people who wonder why things are happening, and what they can do about it. Even if it is just stopping the extinction of one species. And what an interesting species it is. The Golden Toad: An Ecological Mystery and the Search for a Lost Species by Trevor Ritland and Kyle Ritland is a mix of classic adventure, along with a study of how ecosystems live and die, and what the future might hold for various species, as we become worse and worse about taking care of our world.
The Ritland brothers grew up in a family fostered interest in the natural world, and even more loved knowledge. And nothing was more interesting than the Golden Toad. First found by Quaker settlers in Costa Rica, these toads spend much time underground, coming to the surface to mate and find food. The toads though were getting harder and harder to find, leading many to wonder if they had gone or were headed for extinction. The Ritlands decided to find out. Leading a few expeditions into the jungles and Continental divide of Costa Rica the brothers split their tasks, one looking for the toads, one trying to figure out why the toads were disappearing, be it man, disease or something else.
A really interesting book, equal parts adventure, a tale of science, and a wake-up call for all of us. There is a real dichotomy in the tale, a bit of Victorian adventure hitting the jungles with a lot of state of the art laboratory work, and scientific thinking. I can see this appealing to a variety of readers. The writing is good, with plenty of oh wow moments, that make a person want to join and expedition. And moments that the reader is glad to be on their couch reading. There is a lot of scientific information, how ecosystems work, disease travel and change, but the book does a good job of explaining all this, and making it clear. A very educational and exciting tale, well told, with lots to think about.
August 6, 2025
I received a free kindle copy of this book via a Goodreads Giveaway win and would like to thank anyone involved in making that happen!
I vaguely remember hearing about the chytrid frog crisis in the early 2000’s, though at the time I paid it no special attention. I had no idea how widespread the devastation was and continues to be as the fungus evolves. The authors tell an interesting and important story about what happened, the factors that contributed to it, how humans have tried to fight it and what might be done to fight it more successfully in the future. Especially fascinating are the stories of rediscovery and the fact that many species hunkered down and were somehow able to survive the scourge and reemerge. This was really well done and I found it inspiring and devastating in equal measure. I am very grateful that I got the chance to read it!
I vaguely remember hearing about the chytrid frog crisis in the early 2000’s, though at the time I paid it no special attention. I had no idea how widespread the devastation was and continues to be as the fungus evolves. The authors tell an interesting and important story about what happened, the factors that contributed to it, how humans have tried to fight it and what might be done to fight it more successfully in the future. Especially fascinating are the stories of rediscovery and the fact that many species hunkered down and were somehow able to survive the scourge and reemerge. This was really well done and I found it inspiring and devastating in equal measure. I am very grateful that I got the chance to read it!
June 8, 2025
An entertaining example of the genre I like to call "scientific adventure." Blending popular science and memoir, the authors take us on an emotional journey through a diverse and wonderful environment. I recommend it to anyone interested in nature conservation, biology, and/or mystery solving.
Thanks to the publisher, Diversion Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
Thanks to the publisher, Diversion Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews