Rhett Butler

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Founder of Mongabay.

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1058 stories
Fire burning in an area of recent forest clearing in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Courtesy of Planet Labs Inc.

Satellite images from Planet reveal devastating Amazon fires in near real-time

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Aug 2019
Wild male saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) visiting a waterhole at the Stepnoi Sanctuary, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia. Photo credit: Andrey Giljov [CC BY-SA 4.0]

CITES 2019: What’s Conservation Got To Do With It? (commentary)

Susan Lieberman 16 Aug 2019
Baobab Alley outside Morondava. Photo by Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay.

Photo essay: Madagascar’s disappearing dry forests (insider)

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 Aug 2019
Google Earth satellite image showing a deforestation, legal forest reserves, and agriculture in Rondonia, Brazil.

Bolsonaro can bully on deforestation, but he can’t hide from satellites (commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 Aug 2019
Fresh helmeted hornbill head. Photo by Rangkong Indonesia / Yoki Hadiprakarsa

Hornbill heroes: A conversation with a top Indonesian bird conservation NGO

Mongabay.com 5 Aug 2019

As Amazon deforestation in Brazil rises, Bolsonaro administration attacks the messenger (commentary)

Philip M. Fearnside 3 Aug 2019
Traditional Iban tattoos on a Dayak leader's back. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Travelogue: Visiting an indigenous rainforest tribe in Borneo (Insider)

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Jul 2019
Portrait of Robert Swan, OBE. Courtesy of the 2041 Foundation.

Protecting Antarctica beyond 2041: an interview with polar explorer Robert Swan

Mongabay.com 24 Jul 2019
Gold and sand mining near Mandor, West Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

A response to “On public interest in conservation and internet data”

Zuzana Burivalova, Rhett A. Butler, David S. Wilcove 15 Jul 2019
Oil palm plantation in Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

Can jurisdictional certification curb palm oil deforestation in Indonesia? (commentary)

John Watts, Dan Nepstad, Silvia Irawan 10 Jul 2019
Google Earth image showing deforestation around Arara in the state of Para, in the Brazilian Amazon.

As Amazon deforestation rises, sensational headlines play into Bolsonaro’s agenda (commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Jul 2019

Travelogue: Ground-truthing satellite data in Borneo (Insider)

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Jul 2019
Iban dugout canoes on the Utik river in Sungai Utik's customary forest in West Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition

Aseanty Pahlevi, Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Jul 2019
Oil palm fruit in Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Nigeria plans 8-fold increase in palm oil production

Mongabay.com 25 Jun 2019
Drone view of Chiquitano forest recently deforested on the edge of the Bolivian Amazon for soy production. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay.

Satellite data suggests deforestation on the rise in Brazil

Mongabay.com 25 Jun 2019
Rainforest, reef, and ocean on Maratua Island, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Alliance launches plan to save the planet

Mongabay.com 7 Jun 2019

Wild Kingdom’s Jim Fowler has died

Mongabay.com 9 May 2019
Coral garden on the bow of the Saratoga. Photo by Greg Asner.

Guns, Corals and Steel: Are Nuclear Shipwrecks a Biodiversity Hotspot?

Greg Asner 28 Apr 2019
Jane Goodall. Photo credit: Jane Goodall Institute.

Jane Goodall on Leonardo DiCaprio, her 85th birthday, and the need for hope

Rhett Ayers Butler 21 Apr 2019
Afghan man carrying a stuffed leopard down the street in Kabul. The real driver of wildlife trafficking in Afghanistan was however international military forces, humanitarian NGOs, and development contractors. Credit WCS/Lisa Yook.

Conservation may offer common ground in Afghan conflict

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Apr 2019

Photos: What are vipers?

Kevin Torregrosa 8 Apr 2019
Camera trap image showing a jaguar on a road at San Miguelito. Courtesy of Duston Larsen.

Can jaguar tourism save Bolivia’s fast dwindling forests?

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 Mar 2019
Camera trap image showing a jaguar on a road at San Miguelito. Courtesy of Duston Larsen.

Can jaguar tourism save a fast dwindling forest in Bolivia?

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 Mar 2019
The spider Pamphobeteus sp. (Theraphosidae) and Chiasmocleis royi. Photo by Emanuele Biggi.

Video: scientists capture giant spider eating an opossum

Mongabay.com 2 Mar 2019

Malaysia to ban oil palm expansion?

Mongabay.com 2 Mar 2019

Dodging charging elephants in a Kenyan forest (insider)

Rhett Ayers Butler 6 Feb 2019

Our most popular stories of 2018

Mongabay.com 3 Jan 2019
Fungi in Yunnan, China. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Rainforests: storylines to watch in 2019

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Jan 2019

How Mongabay grew from a guy in his pajamas to a multinational media organization (insider)

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Jan 2019
Rainforest in Sarawak, Malaysia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

The biggest rainforest news stories in 2018

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 Dec 2018
Chickadee perches. Photo by Doug Tallamy of the University of Delaware.

Gardens with too many nonnative plants threaten populations of insect-eating birds, study finds

Hannah Hagemann 26 Dec 2018

Relative of ‘penis snake’ amphibian named after Donald Trump

Mongabay.com 18 Dec 2018

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Lionfish hunted
Videos
Researchers analyzed secondary forests in four municipalities in Pará state.
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Sunrise over the Amazon rainforest. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.
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