An indigenous hunter-gatherer people of the planet Ledos, sheltered for centuries beneath an alien energy barrier, who cared for Chakotay and Seven of Nine after a shuttle crash in 2377.
The Ventu are a humanoid people living in the forests of Ledos, in a region enclosed by an energy barrier put up centuries earlier by unknown aliens. Behind it they have kept a simple way of life untouched by the planet's advanced Ledosian society. They appear in the Voyager episode Natural Law.
The Ventu communicate entirely by gesture and wear body paint. When Chakotay and Seven of Nine are stranded among them, they tend Chakotay's injured leg and offer food and shelter. A young woman follows Seven, copies what she does and gives her a blanket, which wears down Seven's initial impatience with them.
Seven's work to breach the barrier from inside exposes the Ventu to the Ledosians. Troubled by how quickly contact begins to change them, she helps to restore the barrier, leaving the Ventu alone once more.