Charles Brewer-Carías, born in Caracas, Venezuela (1938), is a Venezuelan naturalist, photographer, and explorer. He has discovered more than twenty distinct species of animals and plants, as well as the caves of Cerro Autana in 1971, the sinkholes of Sarisariñama in 1974, and a quartzite cave system on the Chimantá tepui, all of which bear his name.
He has led nearly 200 expeditions to the mountains of the Venezuelan Guayana region. Particularly interested in the study of the fauna and flora of the tepuis or flat-top mountains, his expeditions are typically multidisciplinary in nature, and his publications span the fields of botany, zoology, entomology, geology, geography, and anthropology. Owing to the close relationships he developed over time with local Indigenous communities, he speaks the Ye’kuana and Yanomamö languages fluently.
Throughout his career as an expedition leader, he has collaborated with numerous scientists, including Julian Steyermark, Otto Huber, Bassett Maguire, Napoleon Chagnon, Brian Broom, Jacques Lizot, and James V. Neel, among others.
In 1981, he received the Land Army Cross and the Order of the Liberator in recognition of his expeditions in the Esequibo territory. As a result of his work with Brian Broom and the Yanomami people, he became an Honorary Research Associate of the New York Botanical Garden as well as of the Orinoco Botanical Garden in Ciudad Bolívar. The taxonomic genus Brewcaria and the frog species Colostethus breweri were named in his honor.
Charles Brewer-Carías is the author of several books and co-author of numerous scientific publications. Among his works are the following: Las Simas de Sarisariñama (Caracas: Boletín Sociedad Venezolana de Ciencias Naturales La Salle, 1976); Venezuela (Caracas: Central Information Office, 1982); La Vegetación del Mundo Perdido (Caracas: Cromotip, 1986); The Lost World of Venezuela and Its Vegetation (Caracas: C. Brewer-Carías, 1987); Roraima: The Crystal Mountain (Caracas: Editorial Arte Press, 1988); Cerro de la Neblina: Resultados de la expedición, 1983–1987 (Caracas: Fundación para el Desarrollo de las Ciencias Físicas, Matemáticas y Naturales, 1988); and Simbología de la cestería Ye’kwana (Caracas: Altholito, 2019).