Rhett Butler

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Founder of Mongabay.

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James ‘Buddy’ Powell, defender of manatees, died on July 19, aged 70

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 Jul 2025
Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

From deforestation to renewal: Why reforestation isn’t just about trees

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Jul 2025
An ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) in the Peruvian Amazonian rainforest (Cocha Cashu Biological Station), recorded through camera trapping. Photo credit: Fortunato Rayan.

Videos capture an unlikely alliance between ocelots and opossums in the Amazon

Rhett Ayers Butler 18 Jul 2025
Dr. Sheila Colla receiving the 2023 Education Award from Nature Ontario. Courtesy of Nature Ontari

Sheila Colla, advocate for bees, died on July 6th, aged 43

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Jul 2025

Vatsala, Asia’s oldest known elephant, died on July 8th, 2025, aged around 100

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Jul 2025

WWF rethinks conservation after a crisis of its own making

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Jul 2025
Mark Erdmann releasing a thresher shark. Photo courtesy of Mark Erdmann.

Sharks didn’t rebound—so Mark Erdmann is putting them back

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Jul 2025
Longyangxia Dam Solar Park in China. Photo courtesy of NASA.

Nearly three-quarters of solar and wind projects are being built in China

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Jul 2025
Roberto Zolho. From his Facebook page

Roberto Zolho, conservationist who helped restore Mozambique’s wildlife following its civil war, has died at 65.

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Jul 2025
King penguin in Antarctica. Photo by N Butler / Mongabay

Antarctic coalition wins €1m prize for safeguarding a fragile frontier

Mongabay.com 9 Jul 2025
African elephant in Namibia. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

Can conservation go viral in Africa? Peter Knights thinks so.

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Jul 2025
jaguar

Jaguar population doubles around Brazil’s Iguaçu Falls 

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Jul 2025

Indigenous communities left in the dark on carbon scheme on their land

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Jul 2025
A member of the Indigenous Tikuna nation paddling a dugout canoe on a tributary of the Amazon in Colombia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

The cost of conservation without consent: Astrid Puentes on rights-based environmentalism

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 Jun 2025
Mikayla Raines. Photo courtesy of Save a Fox Rescue

Mikayla Raines, YouTuber who rescued unwanted foxes, died on June 20th, aged 30

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Jun 2025
Peter Seligmann. Photo credit: Nia Tero.

Peter Seligmann steps down from Conservation International board after nearly four decades

Mongabay.com 27 Jun 2025

Author Kim Stanley Robinson on climate fiction & navigating the climate crisis

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Jun 2025
Stefanie Brendl free diving with sharks. Photo by Phil Waller

What sharks are worth—and why that matters

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 Jun 2025
Maruti Chitampalli. Screenshot courtesy of Wildlife of Vidarbha

Maruti Bhujangrao Chitampalli, sage of the forest, died on June 18th, aged 93

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 Jun 2025

Rediscovering the biodiversity of India’s Siang Valley

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 Jun 2025
Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

On World Rainforest Day, the world confronts an unprecedented wave of tropical forest loss

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Jun 2025

World Rainforest Day and the state of Earth’s most vital rainforests

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Jun 2025

Rwanda’s crowned cranes make a remarkable comeback

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Jun 2025
The elkhorn coral that comprises most of the Cocalito reef used to be one of the most dominant coral species in the Caribbean.

The reef that shouldn’t exist

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Jun 2025
Shiloh Schulte

Shiloh Schulte, conservationist who helped the American Oystercatcher recover, died in a helicopter crash on June 4th, aged 46

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Jun 2025

The Yurok tribe have reclaimed Blue Creek, 138 years after it was taken from them

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Jun 2025
Dami Tateburuk sits in the Malinggai Uma Tradisional Mentawai house.

Mentawai’s primates are vanishing. One hunter is trying to save them.

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Jun 2025
M Marika. Courtesy of the Rirratjiŋu Aboriginal Corporation

M Marika, custodian of Yolŋu land and culture, died on June 4th, aged 64

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Jun 2025
Dendrelaphis melanarkys or black net tree snake. Photo by Fred Kraus.

Four new snake species discovered in Papua New Guinea

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Jun 2025
Greenpeace Brazil conducted an aerial survey in southern Amazonas and northern Rondônia to monitor deforestation and fires in July 2024. Photo © Marizilda Cruppe / Greenpeace.

Climate strikes the Amazon, undermining protection efforts

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Jun 2025

What does it take to expose 67 illegal airstrips in the Amazon? A year of reporting — and the trust of local communities

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Jun 2025
Derek Pomeroy. Photo by Andrew Plumptre

Derek Pomeroy, a leading figure in Ugandan ornithology died on May 29th, aged 90

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 May 2025

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Mineral traders watch on as antimony ore is transferred from Myanmar trucks to Thai trucks at the Pheung Khleung border crossing. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay.
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