Rhett Butler

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Founder of Mongabay.

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Valmik Thapar. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Valmik Thapar, India’s tiger man, died on May 31st, aged 73

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 May 2025

Hero rats among the global anti-poaching efforts affected by U.S. funding cuts

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 May 2025
Gopi Warrier in Kerala in May 2025. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

Rigorous, not righteous: How Gopi Warrier helped build Mongabay India’s newsroom

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 May 2025

Indigenous lands & protected areas are barely offsetting emissions from damage in the rest of the Amazon

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 May 2025
Sebastião Salgado. Courtesy of Instituto Terra

Photographer Sebastião Salgado (1944-2025) planted a forest and grew a global movement

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 May 2025
Radheshyam Bishnoi in 2021. From his Instagram.

Radheshyam Bishnoi, protector of India’s wildlife, died on May 24, 2025, aged 28

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 May 2025
Sandhya Sekar in Kerala, India in 2025; Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

How Mongabay India took root: Interview with Sandhya Sekar

Rhett Ayers Butler 21 May 2025
Barbara Yeaman. Image courtesy of Delaware Highlands Conservancy.

Barbara Yeaman, aviator and conservation pioneer, died April 6, aged 100

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 May 2025
Alwyn Gentry at work in Ecuador. Image courtesy of Randall Hyman.

Alwyn Gentry died young, but left a forest’s worth of ideas behind

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 May 2025
Ridzki in Jambi in 2022.

How Mongabay Indonesia grew into a trusted environmental voice: Interview with Ridzki Sigit 

Rhett Ayers Butler 6 May 2025

Jim Brandenburg, conservation photographer, died April 4th, aged 79

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 May 2025
Marielle Ramires from Instagram

Marielle Ramires, Brazilian activist and environmental communicator, died on April 29th, aged 45.

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 May 2025
Split shot in the waters of San Benedicto, Mexico. Credit: Enric Sala/National Geographic Pristine Seas

Protecting coastal waters may be the best investment you’ve never heard of, says Kristin Rechberger

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Apr 2025

Indigenous women in Peru lead wildcat conservation initiative

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Apr 2025
Canopy platform in Amacayacu National Park, Colombia. Photo: Rhett A. Butler.

Ecologists are spending less time in the field. That could be a problem.

Rhett Ayers Butler 21 Apr 2025
Ochieng Ogodo

Ochieng’ Ogodo, science journalist, mentor, and editor, died on April 17th, aged 64

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Apr 2025

Even in death, Indigenous Fijians protect the sea

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Apr 2025
Ochieng Ogodo

Mongabay mourns the loss of Ochieng’ Ogodo, our East Africa Editor

Mongabay.com 17 Apr 2025
The temperate Hoh rainforest in the U.S. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Proforestation: The case for leaving trees alone

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Apr 2025
Blue dart frog. Image by Rhett Butler.

The currency of impact: Why nonprofit models might be the future of serious journalism

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Apr 2025
Fire in an area newly deforested in Brazil.

Brazil is speeding-up forest fire prevention to avoid dangerous tipping points in the Amazon (commentary)

Robert Muggah, Ilona Szabo 6 Apr 2025
Two Sumatran rhinos. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Life on Earth is changing — not just in numbers, but in essence

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Mar 2025
Elisabeth Vrba. Photo by J Play.

Elisabeth Vrba, the woman who timed evolution, died February 5th, aged 82

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Mar 2025
A mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) in Virunga National Park. Image by John Cannon/Mongabay.

The untold environmental toll of the DRC’s conflict

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Mar 2025

Vincent van der Merwe (1983-2025), champion of the cheetah

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Mar 2025
(left) Endangered Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus), Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, Florida. by David Hinkel. (right) Manatee. Photo courtesy of NOAA's National Ocean Service

Manatees in peril as human pressures push gentle giants toward the brink

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Mar 2025
David Myers. Courtesy of the Wildlands Conservancy.

David Myers, conservationist and land broker for nature, dies at 73

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 Mar 2025
Scorched earth on the banks of the drought-stricken Xingu River on September 12th, 2024. Photo © Marizilda Cruppe / Greenpeace.

Will Brazil’s President Lula wake up to the climate crisis? (commentary)

Philip M. Fearnside 12 Mar 2025
Mid rescue, the moment she realized I was trying to help. Photo by Stephane Thomas.

World Wildlife Day 2025: What I learned speaking spider monkey

Paul Rosolie 3 Mar 2025
Dr. Ajith Kumar. Photo by Ishwar Narayanan

Indian wildlife biologist Ajith Kumar has died

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Mar 2025
The Cape Orange National Park on the Amazonian coast of the state of Amapá. Block 59 - the site where Petrobras wants to drill - is located offshore 160 kilometers (99 miles) away. Image © Victor Moriyama / Greenpeace.

Oil drilling in the mouth of the Amazon – Lula on a course to disaster (commentary)

Philip M. Fearnside 24 Feb 2025
Randy Borman. Courtesy of the Cofan Survival Fund

Randy Borman (1955-2025): An unlikely guardian of the Amazon rainforest

Rhett Ayers Butler 19 Feb 2025

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