The endangered Huemul deer. Photo by: Alejandro Vila.

The most popular environmental news article on mongabay.com during 2013 was a story about the recovery of the endangered Huemul deer (Hippocamelus bisulcus) in Chile. The story, written by Alexander Holmgren, was visited 308,000 times, largely due to Reddit.

Following the Huemul deer was a post about the formal scientific description of the Kabomani tapir (Tapirus kabomani), the world’s smallest species of tapir. That post, written by Jeremy Hance, had 305,000 reads thanks to Facebook.

In descending order, other news articles with more than 100,000 views during 2013: plants regrowing after five centuries under a glacier in the Canadian Arctic (256,000 views); warming temperatures in the deep ocean (251,000 views); a new crocodile newt in Vietnam (153,000 views); and our annual review of new animal discoveries (105,000 views).

Overall, Mongabay published 1,315 news articles in English, 1,043 in Indonesian, 241 in Spanish, 125 in French, 112 in Italian, 97 in Portuguese, 33 in Chinese, 24 in German, and 10 in Japanese in 2013. We ran more than 200 posts across our various blogs and added over 15,000 new photos taken by staff members in the field.

The news section of the site averaged 352,000 visitors per month, a 28 percent increase over 2012.

Thank you to the roughly 22 million people who visited various sections of Mongabay and Mongabay-Indonesia this year. Best wishes for 2014!

5 most “liked” articles via Facebook in 2013

1. Scientists make one of the biggest animal discoveries of the century: a new tapir 49,000+
2. Asia’s ‘unicorn’ photographed in Vietnam 19,000+
3. Video of Amazon gold mining devastation goes viral in Peru 12,000+
4. Biggest new animal discoveries of 2013 (photos) 10,000+
5. Indonesia’s national airline carrier bans shark fins 10,000+

5 most “tweeted” articles via Twitter in 2013

1. Scientists make one of the biggest animal discoveries of the century: a new tapir
2. Biggest new animal discoveries of 2013 (photos)
3. Powered by Google, high resolution forest map reveals massive deforestation worldwide
4. Top 10 HAPPY environmental stories of 2013
5. Anti-elephant poaching story goes viral in China

New species: Ziegler’s crocodile newt (Tylototriton ziegleri). Photo courtesy of Tao Thien Nguyen.

Our most read news articles in 2013 (10,000 pageviews and above)

1. Vanishing species makes astounding comeback under combined action of local government and conservationists [308,069]
2. Scientists make one of the biggest animal discoveries of the century: a new tapir [305,220]
3. Plants re-grow after five centuries under the ice [256,497]
4. Scientists find the ‘missing heat’ of global warming 700 meters below the sea [251,151]
5. The beautiful amphibian from Hell: scientists discover new crocodile newt in Vietnam [153,520]
6. Biggest new animal discoveries of 2013 (photos) [105,608]
7. New insect discovered in Brazil, only third known in its bizarre family (photos) [97,987]
8. Last 30 years were the warmest in the last 1,400 years [95,748]
9. Amazon natives use Google Earth, GPS to protect forest home [95,040]
10. Scientists discover 8 new frogs in one sanctuary, nearly all Critically Endangered [89,712]
11. Scientists: bizarre mammal could still roam Australia [74,889]
12. World’s biggest palm oil company makes zero deforestation commitment [74,659]
13. In landmark ruling, Indonesia’s indigenous people win right to millions of hectares of forest [71,551]
14. ‘Penis snake’ discovered in Brazil is actually a rare species of amphibian [45,487]
15. Pity the pangolin: little-known mammal most common victim of the wildlife trade [40,004]
16. Anti-elephant poaching story goes viral in China [35,239]
17. 30% of Brazil’s emissions from deforestation are export-driven [33,972]
18. Pesticides decimating dragonflies and other aquatic insects [33,689]
19. Visiting the rainforest – a practical guide [31,763]
20. Conservation Hail Mary works: Mate for near-extinct fish found! [31,613]
21. Video of Amazon gold mining devastation goes viral in Peru [30,016]
22. Little elephant is the first scientific record of dwarfism in the wild [28,993]
23. Malaysia has the world’s highest deforestation rate, reveals Google forest map [27,841]
24. Scientists discover new cat species roaming Brazil [27,463]
25. Jaguars, tapirs, oh my!: Amazon explorer films shocking wildlife bonanza in threatened forest [25,813]
26. Asia’s ‘unicorn’ photographed in Vietnam [25,630]
27. World deforestation rates and forest cover statistics, 2000-2005 [25,155]
28. Scientists discover two new remarkably-colored lizards in the Peruvian Amazon [25,021]
29. Shanghai to ban coal by 2017 [24,027]
30. Fishermen get crafty to circumvent shark fin ban [23,986]
31. Powered by Google, high resolution forest map reveals massive deforestation worldwide [23,089]
32. Extinction warning: racing to save the little dodo from its cousin’s fate [20,971]
33. Top 10 HAPPY environmental stories of 2013 [20,762]
34. Photos: the top new species discoveries in 2012 [19,364]
35. Data from NASA’s Landsat 8 now freely available [19,204]
36. Exclusive: Stunning aerial photos reveal Ecuador building roads deeper into richest rainforest on Earth (YasunI National Park) [18,906]
37. Deforestation rising in Amazon countries outside Brazil [18,694]
38. Scientists identify 137 protected areas most important for preserving biodiversity [18,592]
39. NASA image shows nearly ice-free Alaska as temps top 96 degrees [18,346]
40. Conserving top predators results in less CO2 in the air [17,569]
41. The saola: rushing to save the most ‘spectacular zoological discovery’ of the 20th Century [17,488]
42. Remarkable new monkey discovered in remote Congo rainforest [15,937]
43. Indonesia’s national airline carrier bans shark fins [14,300]
44. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon pacing 88% higher than last year’s rate [14,086]
45. Palm oil drives Malaysian rainforest tree to extinction [13,861]
46. Scientists discover new flying mammal in bushmeat market [13,457]
47. 3.5 million ha of Indonesian and Malaysian forest converted for palm oil in 20 years [13,429]
48. Indonesian palm oil company demolishes homes and evicts villagers in week-long raid [13,099]
49. Fighting deforestation–and corruption–in Indonesia [12,991]
50. Attempt to export nearly-extinct pygmy sloths sets off international incident in Panama [12,873]
51. Relative of the ‘penis snake’ discovered in South America (photos) [12,548]
52. Could the Tasmanian tiger be hiding out in New Guinea? [12,466]
53. Why is Amazon deforestation climbing? [12,297]
54. Entire planet will soon have rapid deforestation detection system [12,266]
55. Illegal wildlife trade flourishes in Sumatra [12,215]
56. The beginning of the end of deforestation in Indonesia? [12,146]
57. Bloodsucking flies help scientists identify rare, hard-to-find mammals [12,117]
58. Controversial research outlines physics behind how forests may bring rain [11,987]
59. Endangered primates and cats may be hiding out in swamps and mangrove forests [11,462]
60. The year in rainforests [11,454]
61. Beautiful striped bat is the “find of a lifetime” (photos) [11,414]
62. Indonesia officially extends forestry moratorium [11,022]
63. Rainforests will survive extreme global warming, argues study [10,925]
64. Illegally logged trees to start calling for help [10,902]
65. New bird species discovered in Cambodia’s largest city [10,788]
66. Starry frog rediscovered after thought extinct for 160 years [10,688]
67. Over ten percent of a species’ total population found in smuggler’s bag [10,490]
68. Indonesian governor proposes opening protected areas to logging [10,176]
69. Loss of big fruit-eating birds impacting trees in endangered rainforests [10,052]

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Rhett Butler Editor

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