Most popular environmental news stories in 2014

Paul Rosolie in an Amazon swamp at night. Photo by: Mohsin Kazmi.

In 2014 Mongabay published more than 1,100 stories in English and over 450 posts in Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Japanese, and Chinese. Mongabay-Indonesia published nearly 1,400 posts in Indonesian.

Stories ran the gamut from light-hearted feel-good pieces to hard-hitting investigative content to thought-provoking interviews.

Without further ado, here’s a list of the ten most popular news posts on Mongabay during 2014.

Number 10 is a commentary by author and naturalist Paul Rosolie, who garnered fame when the Discovery Channel ran a special called “Eaten Alive”, which purported to show Rosolie being consumed by a wild anaconda in the Amazon. The public backlash against Rosolie for the stunt was intense, prompting him to pen an oped providing his account of what actually happened in Peru.

Number 9 is a eulogy by Rhett Butler from 2006 about the extinction of the Baiji, a dolphin endemic to China’s Yangtze River. The post regained attention via social media in late December.

Number 8 is a story by Rhett Butler about the launch of Global Forest Watch, a revolutionary platform for forest monitoring.

Rainforest in Malaysia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Number 7 is a post by Jeremy Hance bout Lady Gaga being bitten by a venomous slow loris which both sparked outrage and raised awareness about the horrific loris pet trade, where the primates are brutally mutilated to make them less dangerous for their keepers.

Number 6 is an investigative piece by Rhett Butler about a massive rosewood bust in Singapore. The illicit timber originated in Madagascar and was likely bound for China, where it is used in luxury furniture.

Number 5 is a story by Shayna Wilson about a study that detailed a raid on U.S. Global Exotics (USGE) in Arlington, Texas. USGE was a major pet supplier that suffered extremely high losses of animals, according to authorities.

Number 4 is a post by Rhett Butler about a newly described freshwater dolphin from the Araguaia River Basin in Brazil.

Number 3 is a 2013 story by Rhett Butler on a study that concluded Malaysia has the highest rate of forest loss. Interest in the story surged in late December.

Number 2 is a 2012 article about a curious-looking caecilian spotted in the Amazon. Dubbed the ‘penis snake’, the species helped make the world aware of the massive dam-building spree currently underway in the Amazon.

Atretochoana eiselti. Photo by Matt Roper

And the most popular news post in 2014 was a comprehensive review of Paul Rosolie’s book. Written by Jeremy Hance, the feature was thrust into the spotlight in the run-up to the controversial Eaten Alive TV show on Discovery.

Social media

Facebook: in 2014, the most shared news post on Mongabay was the 2013 story about Malaysia’s high rate of forest loss. It was shared more than 20,000 times. It was followed by a post titled “20 orangutan pictures for World Orangutan Day”, which had about 10,000 shares, and the Baiji eulogy, which came in with 9,300 shares.

Twitter: A rebuttal to a New York Times editorial arguing that trees shouldn’t be part of the solution to addressing climate change was the most tweeted Mongabay news post in 2014. It was followed by a post about the sharkfin trade, a story about Indonesia’s exceptionally high rate of natural forest loss, and an interview with Jane Goodall.

Instagram: Mongabay launched an Instagram account (mongabay_com) in late December.

The full list of posts with more than 5,000 pageviews in 2014.

Post	Post	Thousand pageviews
Mother of God: meet the 26 year old Indiana Jones of the Amazon, Paul Rosolie	Jeremy Hance	61
‘Penis snake’ discovered in Brazil is actually a rare species of amphibian	Rhett Butler	56
Malaysia has the world’s highest deforestation rate, reveals Google forest map	Rhett Butler	52
New dolphin discovered in the Amazon surprises scientists	Rhett Butler	37
Infamous pet and zoo supplier lost 3,500 animals a week (photos)	Shayna Wilson	33
Singapore intercepts massive illegal shipment of Madagascar rosewood	Rhett Butler	29
Lady Gaga gets bitten by venomous primate, sparking outrage over loris trafficking	Jeremy Hance	27
Revolutionary Google-backed system unlocks power of ‘big data’ to save forests	Rhett Butler	23
Goodbye to the Baiji	Rhett Butler	22
Edited Reality: What I Learned from Filming Eaten Alive	Paul Rosolie	21
Visiting the rainforest – a practical guide	Rhett Butler	20
Discarded cell phones to help fight rainforest poachers, loggers in real-time	Rhett Butler	19
Python explodes after swallowing 6-foot alligator in Florida Everglades	Rhett Butler	19
Secrets of the Amazon: giant anacondas and floating forests, an interview with Paul Rosolie	Jeremy Hance	16
‘The green Amazon is red with indigenous blood’: authorities pull bodies from river that may have belonged to slain leaders	Jeremy Hance	15
Biggest new animal discoveries of 2013 (photos)	Rhett Butler	15
In the shadows of Machu Picchu, scientists find ‘extinct’ cat-sized mammal	Jeremy Hance	14
The quiet zoo revolution	Jeremy Hance	14
Why conservationists need a little hope: saving themselves from becoming the most depressing scientists on the planet	Jeremy Hance	14
Rainforest news review for 2013	Rhett Butler	14
Scientists rebut NYTimes op-ed ‘To Save the Planet, Don’t Plant Trees’	Multiple	14
Surprising reasons to be optimistic about saving forests	Rhett Butler	13
35 pictures of the sharkfin trade that will shock and dismay you	Rhett Butler	13
Investigation finds Chinese factory slaughters 600 whale sharks a year	Rhett Butler	13
287 amphibian and reptile species in Peruvian park sets world record (photos)	Rhett Butler	13
Indonesian sugar company poised to destroy half of island paradise’s forests	Rhett Butler	13
Will zero deforestation commitments save Indonesia’s forests?	Rhett Butler	12
Rhino with bullet in its brain and hacked off horn wanders for days before being put down	Jeremy Hance	11
In precedent-setting case, palm oil company fined $30M for destroying orangutan forest	Rhett Butler	11
The biggest new species discoveries in 2014 (photos)	Rhett Butler	11
How did Ebola Zaire Get to Guinea?	Dan Stiles	11
After GAR expands policy, over 50% of world’s palm oil bound by zero deforestation commitments	Rhett Butler	10
Leonardo DiCaprio donates $1M toward ending elephant poaching crisis	Rhett Butler	10
Indonesian activist wins Goldman Prize for fighting palm oil, deforestation	Rhett Butler	10
APP, environmentalists talk future of Indonesia’s forests	Rhett Butler	10
Short-eared dog? Uncovering the secrets of one of the Amazon’s most mysterious mammals	Jeremy Hance	9
Scientists uncover six potentially new species in Peru, including bizarre aquatic mammal (photos)	Jeremy Hance	9
Through careful management, indigenous people have shaped Asian rainforests for 11,000 years	Loren Bell	9
Despite moratorium, Indonesia now has world’s highest deforestation rate	Rhett Butler	9
Photos: Weird aquatic lizard discovered in mountain streams of Peru	Rhett Butler	9
Malaysian palm oil company stock drops after environmental complaint	Rhett Butler	9
Stuff of fairy tales: stepping into Europe’s last old-growth forest	Jeremy Hance	8
Pity the pangolin: little-known mammal most common victim of the wildlife trade	Jeremy Hance	8
Scientists catalog the world’s 10,000th reptile	Jeremy Hance	8
New large horned viper discovered, but biologists keep location quiet	Jeremy Hance	8
20 orangutan pictures for World Orangutan Day	Rhett Butler	8
In cutting deforestation, Brazil leads world in reducing emissions	Rhett Butler	8
30% of Borneo’s rainforests destroyed since 1973	Rhett Butler	8
PHOTOS: Glowing fish – study finds widespread biofluorescence among fish	Rhett Butler	8
APP commits to conserve, restore 1M ha of Indonesian forest; WWF pledges support	Rhett Butler	8
Clash with palm oil company leaves one indigenous community member dead in Sumatra	Rhett Butler	8
Helping the Amazon’s ‘Jaguar People’ protect their culture and traditional wisdom	Rhett Butler	8
Powered by Google, high resolution forest map reveals massive deforestation worldwide	Rhett Butler	8
Rainforest Alliance to independently audit APP’s zero deforestation commitment	Rhett Butler	8
World deforestation rates and forest cover statistics, 2000-2005	Rhett Butler	8
The swan song of India’s dancing bears	Shreya Dasgupta	8
Little elephant is the first scientific record of dwarfism in the wild	Claire Salisbury	8
When cute turns deadly – the story of a wildlife biologist who was bit by a venomous slow loris, and lived to tell the tale	Shreya Dasgupta	8
Scientists uncover new crocodile in Africa	Jeremy Hance	7
Camera trap captures first ever video of rarely-seen bird in the Amazon…and much more	Jeremy Hance	7
Scientists discover new whale species	Jeremy Hance	7
After 89-year absence a wolf returns to Iowa…and is shot dead	Jeremy Hance	7
What does Nature give us? A special Earth Day article	Jeremy Hance	7
One quarter of sharks and rays threatened with extinction	Loren Bell	7
Top 10 HAPPY environmental stories of 2013	Multiple	7
Pictures: the top new animal discoveries of 2014	Rhett Butler	7
Photos of alleged blood-sucking chupacabra found in Texas	Rhett Butler	7
Indonesian law bars palm oil companies from protecting forests	Rhett Butler	7
Obama: palm oil destroying Malaysia’s rainforests	Rhett Butler	7
Norwegian insurance giant blacklists palm oil companies	Rhett Butler	7
Forests in Indonesia’s concession areas being rapidly destroyed	Rhett Butler	7
Palm oil giants announce deforestation moratorium — effective immediately	Rhett Butler	7
Wilmar refutes Sarawak govt’s claims on palm oil ban	Rhett Butler	7
NASA picture reveals shocking impact of California’s drought	Rhett Butler	7
Ecologists are underestimating the impacts of rainforest logging	Rhett Butler	7
Design of new Mercedes-Benz bionic car inspired by fish body shape	Rhett Butler	7
NASA data: 1997 all over again for Indonesia?	Rhett Butler	7
PepsiCo announces zero deforestation commitment for palm oil	Rhett Butler	7
Culling elephants leaves an impact on their social structure decades later	Ariel Mark	7
Chinese poachers caught with 555 marine turtles, most dead (PHOTOS)	Jeremy Hance	6
Scientists make one of the biggest animal discoveries of the century: a new tapir	Jeremy Hance	6
Amazing discovery in Antarctica: sea anemones found living upside down under ice (photos)	Jeremy Hance	6
Grenades, helicopters, and scooping out brains: poachers decimate elephant population in park	Jeremy Hance	6
Photos: mass turtle hatching produces over 200,000 babies	Jeremy Hance	6
Photos: bizarre new mammal discovered in Vietnam	Jeremy Hance	6
Chinese officials seize nearly a thousand dead pangolins	Jeremy Hance	6
New forest map for Sarawak reveals large-scale deforestation, encroachment on indigenous territories	Rhett Butler	6
Weird aquatic lizard discovered in mountain streams of Peru	Rhett Butler	6
Stunning high-resolution map reveals secrets of Peru’s forests	Rhett Butler	6
Community’s push to clear forest for plantation challenges efforts to conserve in Indonesia	Rhett Butler	6
Protecting rainforests could sequester equivalent of a third of global emissions annually	Rhett Butler	6
Google forest data now available for download	Rhett Butler	6
APP pledges to restore forests, if given the opportunity	Rhett Butler	6
NASA detects surge in deforestation in Malaysia, Bolivia during first quarter of 2014	Rhett Butler	6
Cargill commits to zero deforestation, but environmentalists have questions	Rhett Butler	6
Is Brazil’s epic drought a taste of the future?	Rhett Butler	6
Population growth and associated food demand to take heavy toll on rainforests	Rhett Butler	6
Saving rainforests by buying them	Rhett Butler	6
In Girl Scouts vs. Kellogg’s over palm oil, rainforests and orangutans win	Rhett Butler	6
Future threats to the Amazon rainforest	Rhett Butler	6
646-pound catfish believed to be world’s largest fish	Rhett Butler	6
Indonesia’s forests increasingly empty of wildlife	Erik Meijaard	6
Saudi Prince kills two percent of global population of endangered bird	Shreya Dasgupta	6
Scientists name new endangered species after the company that will decide its fate	Tanya Dimitrova	6
Monkeys reset camera trap, capture first-ever images of flat-headed cats in park	Liz Devitt	6
Mining company attacks scuba diving tourists in Indonesia	Satria Eka Hadinaryanto	6
Next big idea in forest conservation? Integrating forest conservation, use, and restoration	Liz Kimbrough	6
Fracking: the good, the bad and the ugly	Owen Reynolds	6
Can palm oil move past its bad reputation?	Diana Parker	6
The Harry Potter wasp: public votes to name new species after soul-sucking ghouls	Shreya Dasgupta	6
Remarkable new monkey discovered in remote Congo rainforest	Jeremy Hance	5
When the orangutan and the slow loris met – and no one was eaten	Jeremy Hance	5
Over 75 percent of large predators declining	Jeremy Hance	5
Snow leopards and other mammals caught on camera trap in Uzbekistan (photos)	Jeremy Hance	5
Incredible encounter: whales devour European eels in the darkness of the ocean depths	Jeremy Hance	5
The lemur end-game: scientists propose ambitious plan to save the world’s most imperiled mammal family	Jeremy Hance	5
On edge of extinction, could drones and technology save the Little Dodo?	Jeremy Hance	5
Did the world’s only venomous primate evolve to mimic the cobra?	Jeremy Hance	5
U.S. proposes to list wolverine under Endangered Species Act	Jeremy Hance	5
Unrelenting population growth driving global warming, mass extinction	Jeremy Hance	5
Lions face extinction in West Africa: less than 250 survive	Jeremy Hance	5
Giant ibis, little dodo, and the kakapo: meet the 100 weirdest and most endangered birds	Jeremy Hance	5
Long lost mammal photographed on camera trap in Vietnam	Jeremy Hance	5
Bizarre lizard newest victim of reptile pet trade	Jeremy Hance	5
Isolated indigenous people and tourists collide in Peru park	Jeremy Hance	5
Scientists uncover new marine mammal genus, represented by single endangered species	Jeremy Hance	5
What’s an environmental journalist to do with so much good news?	Jeremy Hance	5
Endangered tiger killed in Sumatra	Loren Bell	5
Jane Goodall: 5 reasons to have hope for the planet	Multiple	5
Procter & Gamble’s palm oil suppliers linked to deforestation (photos)	Rhett Butler	5
Despite campaign, Girl Scout cookies still aren’t deforestation free, say scout activists	Rhett Butler	5
Scientists blast Australian government’s moves to dismantle environmental protections	Rhett Butler	5
Malaysian palm oil giant loses PNG case, plantations declared illegal	Rhett Butler	5
Cargill commits to zero deforestation across entire global supply chain: all commodities	Rhett Butler	5
Despite falling palm oil price, premium for ‘sustainable’ product rises	Rhett Butler	5
Indonesia rejects, delays 1.3m ha of concessions due to moratorium	Rhett Butler	5
Despite green pledge, Wilmar partner continues to destroy forest for palm oil	Rhett Butler	5
Land conflicts complicate effort to spare forests from palm oil in Borneo	Rhett Butler	5
Snickers, Twix to be deforestation-free	Rhett Butler	5
China to destroy ivory stockpile	Rhett Butler	5
Dubai’s artificial islands have high environmental cost	Tina Butler	5
Hope in the Heart of Darkness: huge population of chimpanzees discovered in the DRC	Julian Moll-Rocek	5
Tree islands more effective way to replant the world’s forests	Liz Kimbrough	5
Camera traps capture ‘fantastically bizarre’ animal behavior in South African park	Morgan Erickson-Davis	5
Next big idea in forest conservation? Connecting forest fragments	Liz Kimbrough	5
Using Google Earth to protect uncontacted tribes in the Amazon rainforest	Tanya Dimitrova	5
Is 20 millions tons enough? Scientists recommend plastic crackdown as oceans choke	Chris Samoray	5
Shoot to conserve: Corey Knowlton’s rhino hunt escalates the debate over trophy hunting and environmentalism	Jenny Isaacs	5
Next big idea in conservation? Recognizing we are our own obstacles	Liz Kimbrough	5
Amphibian pandemic may have hit Madagascar, hundreds of species at risk of infection	Liz Devitt	5
Cambodian communities best placed to prevent illegal logging	Frans Lambrick	5
Requiem or recovery?: the Sumatran rhino 200 years after its description	Bill Konstant	5
Next big idea in forest conservation? Using drones to catch poachers, monitor forests	Liz Kimbrough	5
The dark side of new species discovery	Laurel Neme	5